ALVMNVS  BOOK  FVND 


THE  HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 


THE 
HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 


An  Intimate  Study  of  the  Father  of  His 

Country  from  the  Personal 

Human  Side 


By 

WAYNE  WHIPPLE 

Author  of  "  The  Story  Life  of  Washington ' 
"  The  Heart  of  Lincoln,"  etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


THE  HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY  GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY. 
PUBLISHED  OCTOBER,  1916 


All  rights  reserved 
Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


THE  PETRIFIED  GIANT  OF 
AMERICAN  HISTORY 

A  little  boy,  on  being  held  up  to 
see  President  Washington,  exclaimed: 
"Why,  he's  only  a  man!" 

Washington,  hearing  this,  smiled  at 
the  child  and  said,  "Yes,  dear,  that  is 
all." 

Those  who  knew  George  Washing 
ton  loved  him  very  much  as  Lincoln's 
friends  loved  him,  but  Washington  did 
not  tell  funny  stories  and  his  closest 
friends  stood  in  awe  of  him.  Yet 
Washington  loved  to  laugh — often  till 
the  tears  rolled  down  his  face — once  at 
least  during  his  terrible  experience  at 
Valley  Forge.  He  was  fond  of  prac 
tical  jokes — his  cleverest  strategic  ruses 
5 


THE. PETRIFIED  GIANT 

were  merely  huge  jests.  He  cracked 
a  joke  with  General  Knox  while  cross 
ing  the  Delaware  through  that  bitter 
Christmas  night  with  the  temperature 
below  zero. 

He  laughed  so  heartily  over  a  face 
tious  story  that  he  fell  back  in  a  help 
less  heap  in  a  rowboat  on  the  Hudson, 
and  once  at  Mount  Vernon,  he  threw 
himself  down  and  rolled  on  the  grass, 
choking  in  a  spasm  of  merriment. 

And  he  could  weep,  too!  No  great 
general  in  history  was  seen  to  cry  so 
much  as  Washington — wringing  his 
immense  hands  (Lafayette  said  he 
never  saw  such  large  hands  on  a  human 
being),  sobbing  in  helpless  anguish — as 
at  the  loss  of  Fort  Washington,  while 
he  was  looking  across  the  river  through 
a  spy-glass,  watching  the  British  with 
bayonets  stabbing  and  killing  his  be 
loved  soldiers. 

6 


THE  PETRIFIED  GIANT 

He  was  seen  several  times  in  a  tower 
ing  rage  at  the  sight  of  treachery  or 
rank  injustice.  Then,  with  white  face 
and  blazing  eye,  he  would  call  upon 
God  for  vengeance.  But  he  was  a  ten 
der  husband  and  a  fond  foster  father; 
a  staunch  and  forgiving  friend;  loyal 
and  loving  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 

His  first  biographers,  in  their  foolish 
attempts  to  make  their  hero  appear  to 
be  more  than  human — a  small  prig  in 
stead  of  the  real  boy  he  was,  and  a 
pompous  and  coldly  self-sufficient  man, 
when  his  "offish"  manner  was  often  due 
to  shyness — the  result  was  a  monumen 
tal  image  of  the  real  Washington. 
Through  the  strange  petrifying  process 
they  used  in  preserving  his  memory, 
they  made  of  him  the  Stone  Giant  of 
American  History. 

So  it  is  as  the  living,  loving,  Lincoln- 
like  man,  with  real,  warm — sometimes 
7 


THE  PETRIFIED  GIANT 

too  hot — blood  in  his  veins,  that  "The 
Heart  of  Washington"  deals  with  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  to  show  him 
worthy  of  his  real  place  not  only  "first 
in  war"  and  "first  in  peace,"  hut  also 
"first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen" 


8 


THE 
HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

HIS  FATHER'S  HEART 

On  the  22nd  of  February,  1732,  a 
little  sunny-haired,  blue-eyed  boy  was 
born  to  Captain  Augustine  Washing 
ton  and  his  second  wife,  who  had  been 
Mary  Ball,  "the  belle  of  Northern  Vir 
ginia."  Wakefield  was  the  name  of 
their  estate,  with  a  garden  of  honey 
suckle  and  sweetbriar,  sloping  down  to 
the  broad  Potomac.  The  house  was  a 
low  story-and-a-half  structure  with  a 
steep  roof  slanting  almost  to  the  ground 
behind,  and  a  huge  outside  chimney  at 
each  end. 

9 


HEART  or  WASHINGTON 

They  named  the  baby  George. 
Lawrence  and  Augustine,  or  Austin, 
Captain  Washington's  sons  by  his  first 
wife,  were  fourteen  and  twelve  years 
older.  They  were  soon  sent  "back 
home,"  as  the  colonists  called  England, 
to  school,  to  "finish,"  as  their  father  be 
fore  them  had  done,  in  a  boarding- 
school  at  Appleby,  near  Whitehaven, 
England. 

This  left  Mary  Washington  to  bring 
up  her  own  little  brood  by  themselves. 
Next  after  little  George  came  "Betty," 
then  Samuel,  John  Augustine,  and 
Charles  followed  in  quick  succession; 
and  last  of  all,  Baby  Mildred,  who  died 
in  fourteen  months.  This  was  George 
Washington's  first  great  sorrow. 

Captain  Washington  was  so  called 
because  he  was  a  ship  master.  He 
owned  several  large  plantations  and 
was  one  of  an  English  syndicate  known 
as  the  Principio  Company,  owners  of 
10 


HIS  FATHER'S  HEART 

large  iron  mines  and  other  interests  in 
Virginia,  of  which  he  was  a  kind  of  gen 
eral  manager. 

The  Washingtons  were  not  consid 
ered  among  the  "F.F.V.'s,"  or  first 
families  of  Virginia.  The  owners  of 
the  large  estates  along  the  Potomac 
were  younger  sons  of  noble  families  in 
England,  and  "at  home"  the  Washing- 
tons  had  belonged  only  to  the  minor 
gentry. 

When  George  was  three,  his  father 
moved  from  Westmoreland  county  to 
the  Hunting  Creek  Place,  fifty  miles  up 
the  Potomac.  There  were  three  babies 
then,  George,  Betty,  and  Sam.  On 
this  sightly  eminence  (afterwards 
named  Mount  Vernon)  was  the  home 
of  George's  early  boyhood,  where  his 
father  taught  him  his  first  lessons  in 
truth-telling,  respect  for  his  elders,  and 
love  of  God.  It  was  here  that  the 
hatchet  and  cherry-tree  incident  is  sup- 
11 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

posed  to  have  occurred;  also  the  grow 
ing  of  the  cabbages  to  form  the  name 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


to  "startle"  the  little  boy,  and  the  good 
father  showed  him  that,  as  his  name 
could  not  spring  up  without  a  guiding 
hand,  so  the  starry  universe  could  not 
have  been  sown  by  chance. 

It  is  known  that  Captain  Washing 
ton  was  at  home  more  than  usual  during 
George's  early  years  and  found  keen 
satisfaction  in  his  opportunity 

"To  rear  the  tender  thought, 

To  teach  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot/' 

And  the  man  George  Washington 
treasured  those  early  lessons  all  his  life, 
taking  special  pride  in  his  resemblance 
to  his  father. 

In  the  spring  of  1739,  while  the  fa- 
12 


HIS  FATHER'S  HEART 

ther  was  absent,  the  house  at  Hunting 
Creek  Place  took  fire  from  rubbish 
burning  in  the  garden.  As  the  house 
was  high  on  the  bluff,  the  slaves  were 
unable  to  carry  water  up  fast  enough 
or  in  sufficient  quantities  to  put  it  out. 
Mary  Washington  wasted  no  time  in 
barren  regrets.  Ordering  a  few  serv 
ants  to  help  her  get  out  some  valuables 
and  the  best  furniture,  she  proceeded 
to  have  the  table  set  and  dinner  served 
in  a  near-by  building. 

So  seven-year-old  George  had  the  ex 
citement  of  a  fire  with  an  accompani 
ment  of  wails  and  prayers  from  the 
frightened  negroes  who  stood  helplessly 
by,  wringing  their  hands.  Then  an 
other  removal,  this  time  to  Ferry  Farm 
on  the  Rappahannock,  opposite  Fred- 
ericksburg,  and  nearer  Captain  Wash 
ington's  iron  works. 

Here  an  ignorant  one-eyed  convict 
and  church  sexton,  named  Grove,  kept 
13 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

a  poor  school,  in  a  hut  in  a  worn-out 
field  then  covered  with  undergrowth. 
Certain  law-breakers  in  England  were 
punished  by  being  sent  to  Virginia. 
Grove's  offense  must  have  been  slight 
or  the  neighborhood  would  not  have 
trusted  him  in  his  double  capacity. 

The  boys  called  their  strange  instruc 
tor  "Hobby."  He  was  able  to  teach 
George  very  little  more  than  his  letters, 
but  after  his  small  pupil  became  fa 
mous,  according  to  Weems  (perpetra 
tor  of  the  cherry-tree  story,  and  similar 
anecdotes  which  are  all  called  in  ques 
tion  in  this  iconoclastic  age),  "Hobby" 
boasted  that  "  'twas  he  who,  between  his 
knees,  had  laid  the  foundation  of 
George  Washington's  greatness." 

At  first  little  George  rode  to  school 
on  the  same  horse  with  a  negro  servant, 
then,  to  his  mother's  constant  alarm, 
Captain  Washington  gave  the  boy  a 
pony  of  his  own.  At  this  time  thrilling 
14 


HIS  FATHER'S  HEART 

letters  were  received  from  Lawrence, 
who  had  finished  school,  and  had  been 
with  Admiral  Vernon  and  taken  part 
in  the  attack  on  Cartagena,  near  the 
isthmus  of  Panama. 

Little  George,  fired  with  the  military 
spirit,  became  a  leader  in  the  daily  bat 
tles  fought  at  school.  He  chose  to 
be  captain  of  the  "English"  against 
"Frenchmen"  or  "Spaniards,"  or  of  the 
"white  men"  against  "Indians."  The 
leader  of  the  opposition  was  a  big  boy 
named  Bill  Bustle. 

With  cornstalk  guns  and  gourd 
drums  the  boys  marched  and  reconnoi- 
tered.  The  pine  undergrowth  sur 
rounding  that  "field  school"  lent  itself 
best  to  Indian  warfare,  and  the  boys 
fought  with  bows  and  arrows.  Of 
course  their  battles  wound  up  in  hand- 
to-hand  encounters,  with  much  pulling 
of  hair  and  make-believe  scalping  with 
wooden  knives. 

15 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

There  is  a  story  that,  when  George 
was  about  ten,  their  warfare  took  a 
modern  turn,  after  a  heavy  snow-fall, 
with  white  forts  and  cannon-balls.  The 
Bustle  bully  hit  the  white  leader  in  the 
eye  with  a  snowball  in  which  he  had 
packed  a  stone.  George  had  to  stay  at 
home  several  days  while  his  indignant 
mother  poulticed  her  eldest  hopeful's 
black  eye.  When  she  urged  the  lad's 
father  to  go  to  school  and  visit  dire 
vengeance  on  that  bad  Bustle  boy,  the 
Captain  shook  his  head: 

"No,  it's  a  boy's  quarrel.  George 
must  learn  to  fight  his  own  battles." 

The  boy  needed  no  urging  to  do  this. 
The  first  day  he  went  back  to  school  he 
tackled  that  Bustle,  who  was  four  or 
five  years  older  than  himself  and  nearly 
twice  as  large.  Getting  the  big  boy 
down,  George  pummeled  him  so  vigor 
ously  that  the  poor  fellow  roared  for 
mercy— "Enough !"— "Enough !"  The 
16 


HIS  FATHER'S  HEART 

little  Washington  boy,  blinded  and 
deafened  by  the  treachery  in  that  snow- 
coated  stone,  could  see  and  hear  noth 
ing,  but  was  determined  to  give  the  mis 
erable  sneak  his  deserts.  It  took  sev 
eral  larger  lads  to  pull  the  pale  white 
boy  off  his  begging  enemy,  and  young 
Bustle  seemed  glad  to  escape  with  his 
life. 

As  a  boy,  George  had  the  friendship 
of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  about  his  own 
age.  To  him  the  Washington  boy 
wrote  the  following  letter,  it  is  said,  in 
his  eleventh  year: 

"DEAR  DICKEY: 

"I  thank  you  very  much  for  the 
pretty  picture  book  you  gave  me.  Sam 
asked  me  to  show  him  the  pictures,  and 
I  showed  him  all  the  pictures  in  it,  and 
I  read  to  him  how  the  tame  elephant 
took  care  of  his  master's  little  boy,  and 
put  him  on  his  back  and  would  not  let 
17 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

anybody  touch  his  master's  little  son. 
I  can  read  three  or  four  pages  without 
missing  a  word. 

"I  have  a  little  piece  of  poetry  about 
the  picture  book  you  gave  me,  but  I 
mustn't  tell  who  wrote  the  poetry. 

"G.  W.'s  compliments  to  R.  H.  L., 
And  likes  his  book  full  well; 
Henceforth  will  count  him  his  friend, 
And  hopes  many  happy  days  he  may  spend. 

"Your  good  friend, 
"GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 

"Sam,"  referred  to  in  this  letter,  was 
George's  next  younger  brother. 

Captain  Lawrence  Washington,  now 
twenty-four,  came  home  from  the  war 
intending  to  return  to  England  shortly, 
as  an  officer  in  the  royal  service.  But 
he  fell  in  love  with  Anne  Fairfax,  of 
Belvoir  (pronounced  "Beaver"),  four 
miles  below  Hunting  Creek  Place, 
where  the  house  had  burned  down  three 
18 


HIS  FATHER'S  HEART 

years  before.  The  marriage  was  to 
take  place  in  the  spring  of  1743,  when 
Father  Augustine  Washington  was 
seized  with  a  sudden  illness  called  gout 
of  the  stomach. 

George  had  been  allowed  to  go  on  a 
visit  to  two  boy  cousins  twenty  miles 
away.  An  account  of  the  sudden  end 
of  his  stay  is  given  by  Dr.  S.  Weir 
Mitchell,  as  though  written  by  Ex- 
President  Washington  fifty  years  af 
terward: 

"We  were  merry  at  supper  when 
Peter,  who  was  supposed  to  look  after 
me,  arrived  with  the  news  of  my  father's 
sudden  illness.  It  was  the  first  of  my 
too-many  experiences  of  the  ravages 
time  brings  to  all  men.  I  heard  the 
news  with  a  kind  of  awe,  but  without 
realizing  how  serious,  in  many  ways, 
was  this  summons.  I  rode  home  be 
hind  Peter  and  found  my  mother  in  a 
state  of  distraction.  She  led  me  to  the 
19 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

bedside  of  my  father,  crying  out:  'He 
is  dying!'     The  children  were  around 
him  and  he  was  groaning  in  great  pain; 
but  he  kissed  us  in  turn,  and  said  to  me, 
"  'Be  good  to  your  mother.' 
"I  may  say  that  throughout  her  life 
I  have  kept  the  promise  I  made  him  as 
I  knelt  crying,  at  his  bedside.     He  died 
that  night  and  I  lost  my  best  friend." 


20 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

There  was  a  great  change  in  George's 
prospects  when  his  father  died.  The 
estates  were  left  largely  to  the  two  sons 
of  the  first  wife.  Hunting  Creek  Place 
and  most  of  the  mining  interests,  in  fact 
the  lion's  share  of  the  father's  wealth, 
went  to  Lawrence  according  to  English 
law  and  custom.  Wakefield,  where 
George  was  born,  and  other  properties 
were  willed  to  Augustine. 

George  was  to  receive,  as  his  portion, 
Ferry  Farm,  opposite  Fredericksburg. 
But  Captain  Washington  stated  in  his 
will  that  the  property  bequeathed  to  the 
eldest  son  by  his  first  wife  should  go  to 
George,  the  eldest  by  his  second  "Ven 
ture,"  if  Lawrence  should  die  childless 
or  if  he  should  have  an  heir  who  died 
21 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

later.     Sam,  Jack,  Charles,  and  Betty 
also  received  land,  slaves,  and  money. 

The  young  mother  was  to  have  and  to 
hold  the  estates  of  her  children  in  trust 
ten  years,  until  George  should  become 
of  age. 

Mary  Washington  had  sixteen  hun 
dred  acres  of  her  own,  and  received  a 
special  legacy  from  her  husband,  who 
seems  to  have  tried  to  provide  liberally 
for  all  the  family,  and  as  equally  as  the 
law  allowed. 

But  the  inward  change  in  George's 
outlook  was  even  greater  than  the  out 
ward,  for,  boy  though  he  was,  he  showed 
those  qualities  of  heart  which,  develop 
ing,  made  it  possible  to  become  a  great 
man.  His  mother  felt  keenly  the  dif 
ference  between  Lawrence's  condition 
and  that  of  her  eldest  boy — although 
she  was  familiar  with  the  legal  custom 
when  she  became  Captain  Washington's 
second  wife. 

22 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

She  complained  bitterly  of  her  lot  as 
a  poor  widow,  and  if  George  had  been 
an  ordinary  lad  he  would  have  been 
jealous  of  his  two  half-brothers  and 
they  would  doubtless  have  severed  all 
relations  with  their  querulous  step 
mother  and  half-brothers  and  sister. 
But  neither  of  these  things  came  to  pass 
because  of  George's  modest  and  manly 
heart. 

The  two  older  sons,  being  of  age,  took 
immediate  possession  of  their  estates. 
Lawrence  married  Miss  Fairfax,  who 
brought  him  more  "gold  and  lands," 
and  he  built  a  new  house  where  the  old 
one  had  burned  down  at  Hunting  Creek 
Place,  naming  it  Mount  Vernon,  for  his 
adored  friend  the  English  admiral.  It 
was  through  his  marriage  with  a  cousin 
of  Lord  Fairfax  that  the  Lawrence 
Washingtons  now  came  to  be  consid 
ered  one  of  the  "First  Families  of  Vir 
ginia." 

23 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

Austin  married  Anne  Aylett,  the 
daughter  of  a  wealthy  Westmoreland 
planter,  who  added  her  good  income  to 
his,  and  they  went  at  once  to  live  at 
Wakefield. 

As  for  George, 

"In  one  short  hour  the  boy  became  a  man." 

Though  only  eleven,  he  was  his  moth 
er's  stand-by.  In  spite  of  her  com 
plaints  and  comparisons  of  his  lot  with 
those  of  his  half-brothers,  she  failed  to 
excite  his  envy,  and  he  came  and  went 
between  Mount  Vernon  and  Wakefield 
on  the  most  agreeable  terms,  both  half- 
brothers  being  very  fond  of  him. 

Of  course,  George  could  not  go  to 
England  to  school,  and  his  mother  com 
plained  that  she  could  not  afford  even 
to  send  him  to  William  and  Mary  Col 
lege  in  Virginia.  Young  as  he  was,  the 
lad  had  the  good  sense  to  accept  the  lot 
of  a  younger  son,  content  also  because 
24 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

this  was  his  father's  will.  He  began  at 
once  to  "help  mother,"  and  planned  and 
worked  with  her  for  the  younger  chil 
dren.  He  got  the  best  part  of  his  edu 
cation  in  the  university  of  adversity. 
He  learned  much  from  nature  and  ob 
servation.  He  had  no  special  yearning 
for  booklore,  so  he  did  not  mind  not 
being  sent  to  England  to  school.  He 
was  willing  to  accept  the  quaint  dictum 
of  the  day  that  "Mother  Wit"  could  do 
more  for  him  than  "Mother  Country," 
and  that  young  men's  morals  were  "fin 
ished"  in  England  as  well  as  their  man 
ners. 

As  "Hobby's"  school  was  the  best 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Ferry  Farm, 
George  began  to  go  about  with  serv 
ants,  sailors,  and  transported  convicts 
from  England.  He  was  now  growing 
tall,  awkward,  a  little  hollow  chested, 
and  was  developing  a  large  nose  and 
big  hands  and  feet. 
25 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

He  was  passionately  fond  of  horses, 
and  a  story  is  told  of  his  breaking  a 
vicious  sorrel  colt  of  his  mother's.  He 
mastered  the  animal,  but  it  fell  dead  un 
der  him.  Washington's  adopted  son 
relates  this  circumstance  with  all  the 
grandiloquence  of  Plutarch's  descrip 
tion  of  young  Alexander  the  Great  mas 
tering  Bucephalus.  Just  such  ridicu 
lous  attempts  to  make  ordinary  acts 
"sound"  heroic,  and  more  than  human, 
have  removed  the  real  Washington 
from  the  love  and  sympathy  of  real 
boys  and  men. 

The  half-brothers,  seeing  George 
running  wild,  begged  his  mother  to  let 
him  live  with  one  of  them  and  go  to 
school.  Though  Mary  Washington  be 
wailed  her  inability  to  send  him  abroad, 
she  was  loath  to  let  him  go  away  even  a 
few  miles  and  attend  school  under  a 
brother's  care.  It  is  a  luminous  com 
mentary  on  George's  manly  disposition 
26 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

and  behavior  that  he  already  had  four 
homes  thrown  open  to  him,  the  occu 
pants  of  which  all  seemed  anxious  to 
have  George  stay — at  his  mother's, 
Mount  Vernon,  Wakefield,  and  Belvoir. 

The  mother  finally  yielded  and  let 
the  boy  go  to  Austin's,  on  account  of 
a  good  school  at  Oak  Grove,  four  miles 
from  Wakefield,  kept  by  a  master 
named  Williams.  This  was  a  great 
sacrifice  for  the  whole  family,  as  George 
was  kind  to  the  younger  children  and 
they  adored  him.  There  was  always  a 
special  comradeship  between  him  and 
"Sister  Betty,"  who  grew  to  resemble 
him;  and  Washington's  longest  letters, 
as  commander-in-chief,  were  addressed 
to  "Dear  Brother  Jack." 

George  was  allowed  to  go  only  on 
condition  that  he  should  ride  home,  a 
distance  of  about  twenty  miles,  every 
few  weeks  over  Sunday.  To  him  the 
chief  attraction  at  Wakefield  was  his 
27 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

brother's  fine  stable  of  thirty  horses. 
He  had  one  horse  as  his  own  for  the  gal 
lop  to  and  from  school.  Here  he  took  a 
practical  or  business  course.  Young  as 
he  was,  and  fond  of  outdoor  sports,  he 
studied  diligently  to  make  up  for  lost 
time.  A  schoolmate  told  that,  while 
all  the  other  boys  "were  playing  at 
bandy  and  other  games,  George  was  be 
hind  the  door  ciphering." 

The  lank,  overgrown,  round-shoul 
dered  youth  was  shy  with  the  girls,  but 
"hail,  fellow,  well  met"  with  the  boys. 
He  excelled  in  running,  climbing,  and 
throwing.  As  at  "Hobby's,"  he  was  a 
leader  here,  and  sometimes  was  asked  to 
act  as  umpire  in  the  other  boys'  quarrels. 

In  the  school-room  George  showed  a 
fondness  for  arithmetic,  but  he  cared 
nothing  for  grammar,  and  was  always 
a  poor  speller,  though  he  studied  hard 
to  correct  these  defects,  even  after  he 
became  President  of  the  United  States! 
28 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

As  he  enjoyed  any  employment  which 
kept  him  out  of  doors,  he  was  happy  in 
carrying  the  chain  for  Mr.  Williams's 
surveying  class,  as  they  measured  the 
meadows  along  Bridge's  creek. 

The  schoolmaster  gave  George  a 
book  called  "The  Youth's  Companion," 
a  collection  of  recipes,  directions,  prob 
lems  in  surveying,  rules  of  etiquet — 
a  sort  of  memorandum  and  handy  book. 

During  the  year  or  more  he  spent  at 
Wakefield,  George  increased  in  devo 
tion  to  and  admiration  for  Austin,  a 
wholesome,  sturdy,  good-natured  sort 
of  brother,  who  took  the  boy  with 
him  sometimes  on  fishing  and  hunting 
trips. 

But  the  Widow  Washington  fretted 
over  the  long  absence  of  her  eldest 
son.  So  it  was  decided  that  George 
should  return  to  Ferry  Farm,  and  go  to 
a  school  in  Fredericksburg  across  the 
river.  Here  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marye,  rec- 
29 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

tor  of  the  Church  of  England,  took  a 
few  pupils  in  "Latin,  French,  and  de 
portment."  About  half  his  time  in  his 
fifteenth  year  was  spent  with  his  mother, 
going  from  Ferry  Farm  to  Fredericks- 
burg  to  school,  and  the  other  half  at 
Mount  Vernon  with  Brother  Lawrence 
and  his  wife. 

With  Mr.  Marye  George  learned  a 
little  Latin  and  afterwards  expressed 
regret  that  he  had  not  improved  this  op 
portunity  of  studying  French  with  this 
Huguenot  minister.  The  memorable 
thing  he  learned  with  Pastor  Marye  was 
more  than  a  hundred  "Rules  of  Civility 
and  Decent  Behaviour  in  Company  and 
Conversation." 

Here  are  several  of  the  rules,  as  he 
copied  them: 

"Keep  your  Nails  clean  and  Short, 
also  your  Hands  and  Teeth  Clean  yet 
without  showing  any  great  Concern  for 
them." 

30 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

"Let  your  Discourse  with  Men  of 
Business  be  Short  and  Comprehensive." 

"Strive  not  with  your  Superiors  in 
argument,  but  always  Submit  your 
Judgment  with  Modesty." 

"Undertake  not  what  you  cannot 
Perform  but  be  Careful  to  keep  your 
Promise." 

"Speak  not  Evil  of  the  absent  for  it 
is  unjust." 

"Let  your  Recreations  be  Manfull 
not  Sinfull." 

"Labour  to  keep  alive  in  your  Breast 
that  Little  Spark  of  Celestial  fire  called 
Conscience." 

While  going  to  school  at  Rector 
Marye's,  George  made  the  acquaintance 
of  two  boys  in  Fredericksburg  named 
Crawford.  These  sturdy  fellows  be 
came  well-known  heroes  among  pio 
neers  and  Indian  fighters.  In  them 
young  Washington  found  "foemen 
worthy  of  his  steel"  in  wrestling  and 
31 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

other  athletics.  With  them  he  devel 
oped  the  wonderful  grasp  of  his  power 
ful  hand  and  learned  a  trick  or  two  that 
he  had  occasion  to  use  later,  with  telling 
effect.  The  companionship  of  these 
youthful  heroes  was  an  excellent  substi 
tute  for  that  of  the  grooms,  convicts, 
and  slaves  with  whom  he  had  lately  con 
sorted. 

There  was  little  for  a  youth  of 
George's  practical  turn  to  learn  with 
the  Huguenot  clergyman,  for  he  needed 
strength  for  the  struggles  of  life,  rather 
than  the  superficial  finish  of  a  "gentle 
man  farmer."  Honest  labor  was  so 
despised  that  a  young  man  who  had  to 
earn  his  own  living  was  not  considered 
a  fit  associate  for  the  gambling,  guz 
zling,  horse-racing,  cock-fighting  scions 
of  the  so-called  gentry  of  that  re 
gion. 

His  older  brothers  were  anxious  to 
have  him  enter  a  creditable  career,  and 
32 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

of  course  the  mother  wished  to  see  him 
the  equal  of  his  friends  and  relatives 
in  respectability.  She  had  a  deep- 
seated  dread  of  poverty,  but  it  was  not 
so  strong  as  the  mother-fear  that  some 
thing  might  separate  her  darling  boy 
from  her. 

Captain  Lawrence  Washington,  who 
had  some  influence  with  Admiral  Ver- 
non  and  English  generals,  proposed  to 
use  it  in  George's  behalf  to  secure  him 
a  place  as  midshipman  in  the  British 
navy.  This  might  lead  him  to  a  good 
"berth,"  and  a  lad  of  such  parts  could 
prove  a  hero  and  climb  high  on  the  lad 
der  of  life. 

George  had  heard  tales  of  war,  ad 
venture,  and  pirates,  and  had  been  fired 
with  a  great  desire  for  "a  life  on  the 
ocean  wave,"  so  when  he  and  Lawrence 
came  home  to  Ferry  Farm  and  told 
Mother  Washington  of  all  the  financial 
and  other  benefits  the  whole  family 
33 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

might  derive  from  George's  securing  a 
good  position,  she  gave  her  reluctant 
consent. 

The  two  brothers,  surprised  and 
elated,  hurried  back  to  Mount  Vernon 
to  make  preparations.  They  were  no 
sooner  gone  than  the  poor  mother  was 
in  a  frenzy  of  despair  over  having 
yielded  to  their  persuasions.  She  was 
in  a  dilemma.  Too  proud  to  take  back 
her  promise,  she  wrote  to  her  brother, 
Joseph  Ball,  a  London  lawyer,  telling 
him  her  trouble.  Then  she  waited  six 
months,  between  hope  and  fear,  for 
something  to  prevent  this  lifelong  sepa 
ration  and  save  her  heart  from  breaking. 
She  hoped  to  hear  from  him  before  they 
received  the  reply  from  the  British  ad 
miralty. 

At    last    the    long-looked-for    letter 

came.     Uncle  Joseph  declared  against 

the   whole   project.     They  would   rob 

and  cheat  the  boy,  "and  cut  and  slash 

34 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

and  use  him  like  a  negro,  or  rather  like 
a  dog." 

It  was  just  the  sort  of  advice  the 
widow  wanted.  She  now  had  a  lawyer 
and  a  man  of  the  world  on  her  side. 
She  lost  no  time  in  driving  to  Mount 
Vernon  and  laying  the  letter  before  the 
brothers. 

The  old  lawyer  had  assumed  that 
George  could  only  get  a  place  before  the 
mast  as  a  common  sailor,  while  Law 
rence  had  applied  for  a  position  as  mid 
shipman  and  had  secured  the  appoint 
ment  without  delay.  George  had  tried 
on  his  new  uniform  and  his  little  sea 
going  box  was  already  on  board  a  man- 
of-war  then  anchored  in  the  Potomac. 
Although  Uncle  Ball's  letter  read  as 
though  he  had  received  his  information 
about  George's  going  to  sea  from  an 
other  quarter,  the  two  brothers  must 
have  suspected  the  real  source — it  came 
so  opportunely  for  the  mother.  But 
35 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

George  maintained  a  respectful  silence 
about  this. 

When  the  difference  between  a  com 
mon  sailor-boy  and  a  midshipman,  en 
tered  with  influential  backing,  was  ex 
plained,  the  poor  mother  lost  all  her 
pride  and  reserve.  Breaking  down,  she 
began  to  sob  and  beg  her  son  not  to 
forsake  his  forlorn  mother  in  her  loneli 
ness.  To  Lawrence  this  was  truly  ex 
asperating,  for  she  had  given  her  con 
sent,  and  they  had  gone  ahead  and  made 
all  the  necessary  arrangements.  The 
appointment  was  highly  flattering  and 
the  tall  lad's  blue-gray  eyes  had  spark 
led  with  hope  and  pride  as  he  tried  on 
the  bright  uniform  of  the  royal  navy. 

George  thought  of  it  all — and  the 
chest  on  board  the  great  ship  of  war. 
He  thought  of  his  bright  hopes — his 
only  chance  for  the  brave  career  he 
yearned  for  so  ardently.  But  provok 
ing  and  unreasonable  as  it  all  seemed, 
36 


THE  MOTHER-HEART 

he  could  not  go  away  and  leave  his 
mother  weeping  like  that.  With  burn 
ing  eyes  and  a  lump  in  his  throat,  he  re 
nounced  his  high  hopes  to  humor  her. 
He  yielded  to  his  mother's  tears — not 
to  his  uncle's  officious,  patronizing  let 
ter. 

The  little  trunk  was  sent  for  and  re 
moved  from  the  ship  just  in  time.  The 
crisp  uniform  was  folded  away  never  to 
be  worn.  The  man-of-war  sailed  down 
the  broad  river  in  the  halo  of  a  radiant 
future,  leaving  a  disappointed  boy  chok 
ing  down  his  sobs,  in  such  a  gloom  as 
only  a  life-disappointment  can  bring  to 
an  ambitious  youth.  That  was  a  heroic 
sacrifice — like  a  martyrdom — to  crush 
his  own  young  heart  to  save  his  mother's. 


37 


YOUNG  STRONG-HEART 

After  that  bitter  self-renunciation 
George  was  allowed  to  stay  at  Mount 
Vernon  most  of  the  time.  Lawrence 
did  all  he  could  to  make  up  the  cost  of 
"the  grand  refusal"  to  the  heart-broken 
lad.  George  had  several  tutors,  and  in 
the  old  yellow  pages  of  his  cash  account 
may  still  be  seen  this  quaint  entry : 

"To  cash  pd  ye  Musick  Master 

for  my  Entrance  3/9" 

This  "Musick  Master"  could  not  have 
been  a  private  tutor.  George  never 
showed  much  ability  in  music,  and  cared 
but  little  for  quavers  and  semi-quavers, 
but  there  were  pretty  girls  to  be  seen  in 
the  neighborhood  singing-school.  To 
his  dying  day  he  was  devoted  to  young 
38 


YOUNG  STRONG-HEART 

women,  but  so  bashful  that  he  would 
rather  face  any  number  of  loaded  can 
non  than  a  "battery  of  bright  eyes." 

The  brothers  would  have  been  glad  to 
share  with  George  and  so  let  him  lead 
an  idle,  "respectable"  life,  but  he  al 
ready  possessed  a  supreme  contempt  for 
snobbery,  and  felt,  since  his  father's 
death,  a  certain  manly  responsibility  as 
the  head  of  his  mother's  family.  He 
was  not  satisfied  to  seek  his  own  comfort 
and  enjoyment  and  leave  her  to  struggle 
on  alone. 

His  brothers  passed  their  time  super 
intending  their  plantations,  and  other 
business  affairs,  but  they  indulged  in  the 
sports  of  the  time,  fox-hunting,  horse- 
racing,  drinking  and  gambling,  as  the 
landed  gentry  of  England  did,  but  in 
moderation. 

Among  the  tutors  Lawrence  had  em 
ployed  was  a  pioneer  scout  and  sur 
veyor,  who  taught  George  that  higher 
39 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

branch  of  mathematics,  giving  him  field 
practice  as  well  as  the  mechanical  draw 
ing  necessary  for  platting. 

While  living  at  Lawrence's,  George 
often  rode  to  Belvoir.  Here  he  met 
Lord  Fairfax,  a  distinguished  member 
of  court  society  in  England,  who  had 
banished  himself  to  his  vast  estates  in 
Virginia,  because  a  too-ambitious  Eng 
lish  lady  had  jilted  him  to  marry  a  duke. 
He  was  a  confirmed  woman-hater,  and 
George's  shyness  towards  the  fair  sex 
found  in  him  a  ready  sympathy.  Other 
bonds  of  fellowship  were  also  found  to 
exist  between  the  old  nobleman  and 
Widow  Washington's  son. 

William  Fairfax,  master  of  Belvoir, 
father  of  Lawrence  Washington's  wife, 
was  Lord  Fairfax's  cousin,  and  man 
ager  of  that  nobleman's  estates;  so 
George  was  welcomed  by  the  Fairfax 
family  as  a  sort  of  connection  by  mar 
riage,  and  the  old  Englishman  was  at- 
40 


YOUNG  STRONG-HEART 

tracted  by  the  sturdy  manhood  of  the 
young  American.  He  talked  with 
George  of  life  at  Oxford,  of  meeting 
royalty,  and  of  dining  with  Addison, 
then  the  greatest  literary  light  in  Eng 
land. 

He  guided  the  youth's  reading,  and 
the  two  went  out  together,  often  fox 
hunting  and  riding  home  in  silence  after 
an  exciting  chase.  His  lordship,  hav 
ing  found  too  many  women  along  the 
coast,  and  being  an  ardent  lover  of  na 
ture,  had  sighed  "for  a  lodge  in  some 
vast  wilderness,"  and  built,  in  the  beau 
tiful  Shenandoah  valley,  a  modest 
house  which  he  named  Greenway  Court. 
This  was  in  the  heart  of  his  wilderness 
possessions.  Here  he  lived  alone,  much 
of  the  time,  except  for  a  few  faithful 
servants. 

But  in  spite  of  his  noble  friend's 
warnings  against  women,  George's 
heart  was  too  young  and  susceptible  to 
41 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

be  turned  against  all  the  lovely  girls  he 
knew.  It  was  the  fashion  for  young 
men  to  write  love  verses  and  address 
them  to  their  special  fair  ones.  George 
Washington  did  this  and  also  wrote  let 
ters  to  male  cousins  and  friends  about  a 
certain  "Lowland  Beauty,"  but  no  one 
knows  with  certainty  who  she  was. 

And  the  love-lines  he  wrote!     Here 
is  a  sample: 

"Oh,  ye  gods !  why  should  my  poor  resistless 
heart 

Stand  to  oppose  thy  might  and  power  ? 
At  last  surrender  to  Cupid's  feather'd  dart 

And  now  lies  bleeding  every  hour 
For  her  that's  pitiless  of  my  grief  and  woes 

And  will  not  on  me  pity  take; 
He  sleeps  amongst  my  most  inveterate  foes 
And  with  gladness  never  wish  to  wake — " 

And  so  on  and  on  and  on.  As  this 
seems  not  to  have  been  sent  to  any  par 
ticular  object  of  his  affection,  it  is 
thought  George  took  to  writing  verse 
because  all  young  men,  mostly  older 
42 


YOUNG  STRONG-HEART 

than  he,  were  doing  this — as  the  modern 
boy  of  fourteen  to  sixteen  goes  in  for 
collecting  stamps  till  he  tires  of  the  fad. 


THE  TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

Lord  Fairfax  encouraged  George  to 
make  a  practical  use  of  his  knowledge 
of  surveying;  he  doubtless  looked  down 
on  the  idleness  of  the  wild  and  foolish 
young  men  of  Virginia.  Of  course, 
such  an  honorable  authority  as  the  sixth 
Baron  Fairfax  soon  convinced  the  older 
brothers  that  it  was  quite  right  and 
proper  for  George,  as  a  younger  son,  to 
become  a  practical  surveyor.  But  the 
yearning  mother  still  opposed  it.  It 
was  a  dangerous  calling  which  meant 
work  in  distant  wilds  among  "squat 
ters,"  or  random  settlers,  who  looked  on 
surveyors  as  sent  by  the  English  pro 
prietors  to  take  their  lands  and  homes 
from  them.  Then  there  were  Indians, 
often  hostile  and  treacherous,  besides 
44 


TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

swollen  rivers,  rattlesnakes  and  wild 
beasts.  Above  all  it  would  take  her 
precious  boy  away  from  her  for  months 
at  a  time.  But  Lord  Fairfax  sent 
George  out  to  survey  his  own  great  es 
tates  and  paid  him  handsomely  for  his 
services.  With  the  Washington  lad, 
only  sixteen  then,  went  George  William 
Fairfax,  several  years  older.  The  two 
youths  had  Surveyor  Genn  with  them, 
as  guide  and  manager. 

Though  the  excursion  was  beset  with 
many  difficulties  and  dangers,  the  two 
Georges,  buoyed  up  by  youthful  spirits 
(though  George  Washington  had  been 
suffering  from  a  bilious  attack),  went 
through  it  with  the  enthusiasm  that 
brings  success.  The  Washington  lad 
kept  a  diary  of  this  surveying  expedi 
tion,  making  sage  comments  on  the  con 
ditions  he  found,  and  recording  their  ex 
periences  with  settlers,  Indians  and 
others,  especially  jokes  against  himself, 
45 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

— how  he  shot  at  two  turkeys  and  missed 
them  both.  Here  is  an  extract  from 
his  quaint  record  of  his  first  surveying 
trip  which  he  called: — 

"A  Journal  of  My  Journey  over  the 
Mountains,  Begun  Friday,  the  llth  of 
March,  1747-8." 

"Sunday,  March  13th.  Rode  to  his 
lordship's  quarters.  About  four  miles 
higher  up  the  river  Shenandoah  we  went 
through  most  beautiful  groves  of  sugar 
trees,  and  spent  the  best  part  of  the  day 
in  admiring  the  trees  and  the  richness 
of  the  land.  .  .  . 

"15th.  Worked  hard  till  night,  and 
then  returned.  After  supper  we  were 
lighted  into  a  room,  and  I,  not  being  as 
good  a  woodsman  as  the  rest,  stripped 
myself  very  orderly,  and  went  into  the 
bed,  as  they  called  it,  when  to  my  sur 
prise  I  found  it  to  be  nothing  but  a  lit- 
46 


TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

tie  straw  matted  together  without  sheet 
or  anything  else,  but  only  one  thread 
bare  blanket,  with  double  its  weight  of 
vermin,  such  as  lice,  fleas,  &c( !) 

"I  was  glad  to  get  up  (as  soon  as  the 
light  was  carried  from  us)  and  put  on 
my  clothes  and  lie  as  my  companions 
did.  Had  we  not  been  very  tired,  I  am 
sure  we  should  not  have  slept  much  that 
night." 

There  was  one  experience  he  did  not 
record,  probably  because  the  joke  was 
not  on  himself.  Surveyor  Genn  had 
met,  during  a  previous  scout  or  survey, 
an  Indian  chief  named  Big  Bear,  who 
had  an  awful  hand-grasp,  and  delighted 
in  shaking  hands  with  an  unwitting 
"paleface,"  making  the  bones  crack,  and 
grinning  with  fiendish  glee  over  the 
white  man's  agony.  So  Genn  warned 
the  members  of  his  party  against  trust 
ing  Big  Bear  if  they  should  meet  him. 
47 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

George  said  nothing,  but  remembered 
a  trick  he  had  learned  with  the  Craw 
ford  boys  in  Fredericksburg.  When 
that  wily  chief  presented  his  sinewy  paw 
with  the  usual  Indian  greeting,  "How?" 
Washington  seized  it  with  an  innocent 
look,  and  said  "How?"  with  great  cor 
diality. 

The  astonished  Indian,  caught  in 
his  own  trap,  fairly  roared  with  pain, 
and  the  delighted  bystanders,  Indians 
as  well  as  white  men,  danced  with  joy  to 
see  "the  biter  bitten"  at  last,  and  writh 
ing  with  the  very  agony  he  had  inflicted 
on  others. 

The  struggle  for  the  right  to  earn  his 
own  living  was  George  Washington's 
first  war  for  independence.  This  free 
dom  from  dependence  was  sweet  to  him 
as  he  returned  from  his  first  surveying 
trip,  a  happy  young  conqueror  of  six 
teen.  He  had  earned  from  eighteen  to 
twenty-four  dollars  per  diem — very 
48 


TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

high  wages  for  that  day  and  generation ! 
The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  go  with 
George  Fairfax  to  Belvoir  and  report 
to  his  distinguished  employer.  His 
lordship  was  pleased  with  everything, 
especially  with  the  lad's  "Journal"  of 
the  excursion. 

The  satisfaction  of  one  great  landed 
proprietor  meant  recommendations  that 
would  bring  engagements  from  others, 
and  it  was  with  a  light  heart  that  young 
George  Washington  went  home  to  tell 
his  mother  all  about  it,  and  have  a  happy 
romp  with  the  younger  children,  for 
"bouncing  Betty"  was  enough  like  her 
big  brother  George  to  be  a  boon  com 
panion. 

The  next  year,  at  the  age  of  seven 
teen,  Washington  received  from  Wil 
liam  and  Mary  College,  at  Williams- 
burg,  the  colonial  capital  of  Virginia, 
a  commission  as  surveyor  of  Culpeper 
County. 

49 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

While  in  the  western  wilds  he  wrote 
the  following  letter  to  his  friend  Rich 
ard  Henry  Lee: 

"DEAR  RICHARD: 

"The  receipt  of  your  kind  favor  of 
the  2nd  instant  afforded  me  unspeak 
able  pleasure,  as  it  convinces  me  that  I 
am  still  in  the  memory  of  so  worthy  a 
friend — a  friendship  I  shall  ever  be 
proud  of  increasing.  Yours  gave  me 
the  more  pleasure,  as  I  received  it 
among  barbarians  and  an  uncouth  set 
of  people. 

"Since  you  received  my  letter  of  Oc 
tober  last,  I  have  not  slept  above  three 
or  four  nights  in  a  bed,  but  after  walk 
ing  a  good  deal  all  day,  I  have  lain  down 
before  the  fire  upon  a  little  hay,  straw, 
fodder  or  a  bearskin,  whichever  was  to 
be  had,  with  man,  wife  and  children,  like 
dogs  and  cats ;  and  happy  is  he  who  gets 
the  berth  nearest  the  fire! 
50 


TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

"Nothing  could  make  it  pass  off  tol 
erably  but  a  good  reward.  A  doubloon 
is  my  constant  gain  every  day  that  the 
weather  will  permit  of  my  going  out, 
and  sometimes  six  pistoles.  [A  doub 
loon  is  a  double  pistole,  and  a  pistole 
was  worth  about  four  dollars  in  mod 
ern  money.] 

''The  coldness  of  the  weather  will  not 
permit  of  my  making  a  long  stay,  as  the 
lodging  is  rather  too  cold  for  the  time 
of  the  year.  I  never  had  my  clothes  off, 
but  have  lain  and  slept  in  them,  except 
the  few  nights  I  have  been  in  Freder- 
ickstown." 

The  pilgrimages  of  the  seventeen- 
year-old  County  Surveyor  into  western 
wilds  became  fewer  and  farther  be 
tween,  for  Lawrence's  health  seemed  to 
be  failing  fast,  and  the  invalid  yearned 
to  have  Brother  George  with  him  more 
and  yet  more.  It  was  a  beautiful 
51 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

friendship  which  existed  between  these 
two,  for  the  younger  was 

"Brother,  at  once,  and  son/* 

Lawrence  seems  to  have  known  that 
he  was  not  long  for  this  world,  for,  be 
tween  trips  in  vain  search  for  health,  he 
kept  planning  for  the  future  of  his  wife 
and  baby  daughter — and  for  George,  to 
whom  he  clung  as  a  sick  man  does  to  the 
young,  well  and  strong.  As  a  last  re 
sort  he  decided  to  spend  the  winter  in 
Barbados,  and  no  one  but  George  would 
he  take  with  him. 

Some  time  before  this  Lawrence  had 
resigned  as  an  officer  in  the  Virginia 
militia,  and  recommended  that  George 
take  his  place,  and  the  youth  was  duly 
appointed  district  adjutant-general, 
ranking  major,  with  a  salary,  in  modern 
money,  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars  a  year.  The  young  major  was 
given  lessons  in  handling  the  broad- 
52 


TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

sword  and  in  fencing  by  an  officer 
named  Van  Braam,  who  had  been  with 
Lawrence  in  the  war,  and  he  pursued 
military  studies  under  Adjutant  Muse, 
another  officer  acquaintance.  Young 
Major  Washington's  duties  consisted  in 
making  tours  through  several  counties, 
and  inspecting  drills,  arms  and  ac- 
couterments  of  the  Colonial  militia. 

But  he  had  to  give  up  surveying  and 
militia  duties  to  accompany  his  brother 
on  the  voyage  in  hopeless  search  of 
health.  They  sailed  on  the  28th  of  Sep 
tember,  1751,  George  being  nineteen 
and  Lawrence  thirty-three  years  of  age. 

George  kept  a  diary  on  this  voyage. 
There  was  little  interest  beyond  the 
daily  symptoms  of  the  invalid.  On  the 
day  of  their  arrival,  after  a  passage  of 
five  weary  weeks,  they  were  entertained 
by  the  governor  of  Barbados,  and 
George  was  exposed  to  smallpox.  He 
was  ill  nearly  four  weeks,  losing  his 
53 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

fresh,  youthful  complexion,  and  his  skin 
was  left  pitted.  Till  his  death  he  bore 
the  marks  of  that  governor's  hospitality. 

Lawrence  had  the  ups  and  downs 
common  to  those  in  the  last  stages  of 
consumption.  He  decided  to  try  a 
change  at  Bermuda,  sending  George 
home  to  bring  Anne,  his  wife,  to  meet 
him  on  that  island.  But  before  they 
sailed  from  Virginia  they  received  word 
not  to  come,  for  Lawrence  was  now 
"hurrying  home  to  his  grave."  He 
reached  Mount  Vernon  in  the  spring 
of  1752,  and  died  in  July.  George, 
though  only  twenty,  was  the  real  exec 
utor  of  his  brother's  will.  He  did  his 
part  faithfully  and  well. 

When  he  was  twenty-one  he  declined 
to  disturb  his  mother  in  the  possession 
of  Ferry  Farm,  which  had  been  left  to 
him  by  his  father,  although  at  that  time 
he  did  not  know  that  another  estate 
was  soon  to  be  his.  Lawrence's  little 
54 


TWO  ELDER  BROTHERS 

daughter  died  in  1754,  and  thereupon 
Lawrence's  beautiful  home  passed  into 
his  brother's  possession.  Thus  at  two 
and  twenty,  George  Washington,  tall 
and  handsome,  after  manifold  struggles 
through  boyhood  and  youth,  became  the 
wealthy  master  of  Mount  Vernon. 


55 


"THE  HERO'S  HEART" 

Among  the  interests  of  the  two  older 
Washington  brothers  was  that  of  the 
Ohio  Company,  of  which  Lawrence  had 
been  president.  This  was  an  English 
syndicate  holding  certain  rights  along 
the  Ohio,  now  included  in  the  States  of 
West  Virginia  and  southeastern  Ohio, 
which  were  encroached  upon  by  the 
French,  coming  down  from  Canada  and 
settling  along  that  river.  The  Indians 
occupying  the  disputed  territory  took 
sides ;  those  allying  themselves  with  the 
French  were  known  as  "French  In 
dians." 

Robert  Dinwiddie,  governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  also  interested  in  the  Ohio 
Company.  He  appointed  the  young 
adjutant-general,  then  only  twenty, 
56 


"THE  HERO'S  HEART" 

special  envoy  from  the  English  and  in 
structed  him  to  take  to  the  French  com 
mander  a  "notice  to  quit"  the  country. 
Major  Washington  thought  his  ap 
pointment  a  mistake,  for  Indians  have 
great  respect  for  age,  and  he  felt  that 
the  French  officers,  some  of  whom  were 
Indian  half-breeds,  would  laugh  to 
scorn  a  message  from  Great  Britain  de 
livered  by  "almost  a  boy."  As  a  mili 
tary  officer  it  was  his  "not  to  reason 
why."  It  was  not  fear  of  losing  his  life 
that  made  young  Washington  hesitate, 
but  he  was  afraid  of  failing  in  the  at 
tempt  through  his  own  unfitness. 

George  was  not  yet  twenty-one  at 
that  time,  and  he  dreaded  the  parting 
with  his  mother  on  such  a  dangerous 
errand  more  than  encountering  a  whole 
village  of  hostile  savages.  She  ob 
jected,  of  course — almost  any  mother 
would.  When  his  mere  personal  ambi 
tion  was  involved,  he  had  given  up  a 
57 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

bright  future  for  her  sake,  but  now  he 
was  an  officer  of  the  government,  and 
his  country  called  on  him  to  risk  his  life. 
It  would  be  weakness  to  yield  to  her  en 
treaties  now,  so  he  comforted  her  the 
best  he  could  and  left  for  Williamsburg. 
On  the  30th  of  October,  1753,  the 
young  envoy  set  out  on  a  difficult  and 
dangerous  mission  which  was  to  affect 
the  future  history  of  two  hemispheres, 
traveling  on  horseback  or  on  foot,  with 
a  few  scouts  and  an  interpreter.  It  was 
a  journey  of  hundreds  of  miles  through 
pathless  forests,  deep  with  snows,  and 
among  hostile  savages.  He  held  pow 
wows  in  Indian  lodges,  enlisting  red 
men  as  guides  and  helpers.  At  an  in 
terview  and  supper  in  Venango,  he  kept 
his  head  while  his  French  hosts  were 
maudlin  with  drink  and  revealed  the 
secret  orders  of  their  superiors.  He 
had  to  go  on,  almost  to  Lake  Erie,  to 
deliver  the  governor's  letter  to  Cheva- 
58 


"THE  HERO'S  HEART" 

lier  de  St.  Pierre,  the  highest  officer 
south  of  Quebec. 

While  waiting  for  the  Chevalier's 
reply,  the  French  tried  to  bribe  his 
friendly  Indians  with  liquor,  guns  and 
ammunition;  but  the  boy  diplomat,  by 
tact,  prowess  and  patience,  brought 
away  his  allies  in  triumph,  after  having 
made  secret  drafts  of  the  French  fortifi 
cations.  In  his  reply  the  Chevalier  re 
fused  to  vacate  the  lands  occupied  by 
the  French. 

On  the  return  trip  the  strange  em 
bassy  reached  Venango  in  canoes,  after 
several  adventures.  There  the  party 
separated,  Major  Washington  sending 
the  rest  home  on  the  horses,  while  he 
and  Gist,  a  special  scout,  started  out  a 
shorter  way  on  foot,  through  woods  and 
deep  snow,  as  he  was  anxious  to  deliver 
the  message  to  Governor  Dinwiddie 
without  delay.  No  trails  could  be  seen, 
so  they  engaged  an  Indian  guide.  He 
59 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

proved  to  be  hostile,  and  Washington 
caught  him  in  the  act  of  aiming  a  gun 
at  him.  The  young  white  man  dis 
armed  the  Indian.  Gist  said  there  was 
no  way  but  to  kill  the  treacherous  sav 
age,  for,  if  allowed  to  escape,  he  would 
follow  them  with  others  of  his  tribe 
and  murder  them.  Reasonable  as  this 
seemed,  George  took  the  chance  of  los 
ing  his  own  life  rather  than  shoot,  in 
cold  blood,  a  defenceless  enemy. 

They  let  the  Indian  go,  to  his  great 
astonishment,  and  hurried  blindly  for 
ward  through  deep  drifts,  though 
Major  Washington  was  lame  and  suf 
fering  from  blistered  feet.  They  dared 
not  encamp  and  rest  that  night,  as  they 
believed  to  do  so  would  mean  sure  death. 
By  morning  they  reached  the  Allegheny 
river,  after  a  hideous  night  of  sleepless 
apprehension.  In  his  journal  Wash 
ington  wrote: 

"There  was  no  way  for  getting  over 
60 


"THE  HERO'S  HEART" 

but  on  a  raft;  which  we  set  about  with 
one  poor  hatchet.  Before  we  were  half 
way  over  we  were  jammed  in  the  ice. 
The  rapidity  of  the  stream  jerked  me 
out  into  ten  feet  of  water." 

This  was  far  more  disagreeable  and 
dangerous  than  the  crossing  of  the  Del 
aware  twenty-three  years  later.  The 
young  man  caught  the  end  of  a  log 
and  scrambled  back  on  the  raft.  The 
weather  was  below  zero  and  a  high  wind 
was  blowing. 

The  two  fugitives  reached  a  bleak 
island  in  the  darkness  and  built  a  fire 
where  Washington  tried  to  dry  his 
frozen  clothing.  Gist,  long  hardened 
to  exposure,  found  in  the  morning  that 
his  fingers  and  toes  were  frozen.  The 
next  day  they  escaped  to  the  opposite 
shore,  where  they  were  safe  from  pur 
suing  Indians.  They  learned  after 
ward  that  they  must  have  had  a  narrow 
escape,  as  the  pursuing  savages,  disap- 
61 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

pointed  of  their  prey,  killed  and  scalped 
a  helpless  family  living  near. 

Major  Washington  purchased  two 
horses  and  the  two  men,  after  more 
hardships  and  escapes,  reached  Wil- 
liamsburg  on  the  16th  of  January,  1754, 
where  the  brave  young  messenger  de 
livered  Chevalier  de  St.  Pierre's  polite 
but  unsatisfactory  reply  to  Governor 
Dinwiddie. 


62 


"DRUM-BEAT—HEART-BEAT" 

The  young  ambassador  had  early  de 
veloped  that  habit  of  putting  things 
down,  which  goes  far  toward  success  in 
many  walks  of  life.  His  boyish  diary, 
describing  his  adventures  in  western 
wilds,  was  published,  and  found  a  wide 
and  eager  reading,  not  only  among  the 
American  colonies,  but  in  Great  Britain 
and  on  the  continent  of  Europe  by  mon- 
archs,  ministries,  diplomats  and  people 
of  the  work-a-day  world.  In  recogni 
tion  of  his  services,  Major  Washington 
was  promoted  to  second  in  command  in 
Virginia,  with  the  rank  of  colonel. 

Governor  Dinwiddie  began  at  once, 

by  writing  letters  and  sending  special 

messengers,  to  arouse  the  colonies  to 

unite  and  fight  those  enemies  of  all,  the 

63 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

French  and  their  Indian  allies.  As 
suming  the  initiative  he  also  sent  Cap 
tain  Trent  and  a  band  of  workmen  to 
build  a  fort  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  des 
ignated  by  Washington  to  be  the  stra 
tegic  point  of  all  that  region. 

Trent  failed  to  guard  the  fortifica 
tions,  and  one  day,  in  his  absence  with 
troops,  hundreds  of  French  and  Indians 
landed  in  canoes  and  swarmed  up  the 
bank.  The  few  men  working  on  the 
unfinished  fort  were  helpless.  As  they 
offered  no  resistance,  they  were  allowed 
to  leave  unmolested,  taking  their  build 
ing  tools  with  them. 

They  found  their  way  to  Colonel 
Washington,  who  had  been  sent  after 
Trent  as  soon  as  a  company  could  be 
organized  for  the  purpose,  and  was  ap 
proaching  to  protect  and  secure  the 
fortress.  It  was  a  deep  chagrin  to  the 
young  officer  to  lose  this  point  of  van 
tage  to  his  country  through  stupid  neg- 
64 


"DRUM-BEAT—HEART-BEAT" 

lect.  Of  course,  it  was  useless  now  to 
advance  to  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  where 
the  French  were  already  completing  a 
larger  work,  which  they  named  Fort 
Duquesne. 

Gist,  the  scout  who  had  acted  as  guide 
on  his  expedition  through  this  region 
the  year  before,  came  to  report  that  for 
eign  soldiers'  tracks  had  been  seen  in 
the  neighborhood.  Then  the  Indian 
chief  known  as  the  Half-King,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  motley  embassy  the  year 
before,  and  who  was  approaching  to  join 
Washington  again,  sent  word  that  a 
French  scouting  party  of  fifty  men  had 
been  tracked  to  a  secluded  glen  in  the 
woods. 

Setting  out  at  dead  of  night  from 
Great  Meadows,  with  about  fifty  sol 
diers,  including  Indian  guides,  Wash 
ington  led  his  men,  single  file,  grop 
ing,  stumbling,  jostling  one  another, 
through  a  pouring  rain,  till  they  sur- 
65 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

rounded  the  hidden  French  camp  where 
even  the  sentry  was  asleep  beside  the 
sputtering  fire. 

The  French  camp  "woke-  to  hear  the 
sentry  shriek"  and  stumbled  about, 
grabbing  for  their  guns.  By  the  flick 
ering  firelight  they  saw  the  tall  young 
leader  standing  in  the  foreground 
against  the  inky  blackness,  and  heard 
him  cry,  "Fire!" 

Although  bullets  whistled  around 
him,  Colonel  Washington  was  not  hit. 
In  fifteen  minutes  the  French  had  sur 
rendered;  their  leader,  Jumonville,  had 
been  slain  with  nine  of  his  men.  Only 
one  of  Washington's  men  was  killed, 
and  two  or  three  wounded.  The  Vir 
ginia  colonel  courteously  offered  the  two 
officers  among  the  French  prisoners  all 
the  dry  clothing  he  had,  though  he  him 
self  was  drenched  fcfthe  skin. 

This  was  Washington's  first  battle. 
In  a  letter  to  his  brother  Jack  he  wrote 
66 


"DRUM-BEAT—HEART-BEAT" 

exultingly,  because  he  had  learned  that 
real  danger  could  not  make  him  afraid: 

"I  have  heard  the  bullets  whistle, 
and,  believe  me,  there  is  something 
charming  in  the  sound." 

When  this  remark  was  reported  to 
George  the  Second  of  England,  the 
king  replied: 

"He  would  not  say  so  if  he  had  been 
used  to  hear  many." 

The  French  tried  to  make  it  appear 
that  Jumonville  and  his  men  were  on 
a  peaceful  expedition,  and  had  been 
treacherously  murdered  in  the  dark  by 
Washington  and  his  cowardly  crew. 

At  Great  Meadows  he  built  a  low 
log-enclosure  which  they  named  Fort 
Necessity.  Meanwhile  Colonel  Fry, 
first  in  command,  had  died  on  his  way 
thither.  So  young  Washington  was 
now  head  of  the  Virginia  forces.  Re 
cruits  formerly  under  Fry  soon  reached 
Fort  Necessity  with  a  regiment  of  In- 
67 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

dependents  from  South  Carolina. 
They  called  themselves  Independents 
because  they  were  paid  by  the  crown, 
and  better  dressed,  fed  and  drilled,  than 
the  hastily  gathered  company  from  Vir 
ginia.  Their  captain  refused  to  take 
orders  from  Colonel  Washington. 
The  men  from  South  Carolina  would 
not  work  in  building  roads  or  the  fort. 
They  said  they  were  neither  diggers  nor 
woodsmen,  but  soldiers. 

Colonel  Washington  bore  these  trials 
with  all  the  patience  at  his  command. 
He  could  not  endure  to  see  his  faithful 
soldiers  work  while  the  "independent" 
loafers  merely  looked  on  or  jeered  at 
those  who  were  working,  so  he  ordered 
the  Virginia  troops  to  go  forward  fell 
ing  trees  and  cutting  roads,  while  the 
Carolina  men  remained  at  ease  near  the 
unfinished  fort.  When  the  Virginians 
had  advanced  twelve  miles,  their  leader 
learned  that  a  large  body  of  French 
68 


"DRUM-BEAT— HEART-BEAT" 

were  coming  down  the  river  under  com 
mand  of  Coulon  de  Villiers,  brother  of 
Jumonville,  vowing  dire  vengeance 
upon  "the  cruel  Washington"  and  his 
murderous  gang.  The  Virginia  colonel 
sent  for  the  Independents'  officers,  and 
after  a  council  of  war,  decided  to  return 
to  the  fort.  Now  with  the  enemy  less 
than  a  day  off,  the  Independents  worked 
on  the  fortification  they  had  been  too 
proud  to  finish,  as  if  it  were  their  last 
day  on  earth — as  it  proved  to  be  for 
many  of  them ! 

On  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  July, 
1754,  the  French  and  Indians  sur 
rounded  their  log  enclosure.  The  In 
dependents,  ready  to  fight  now  that  the 
enemy  was  in  sight,  must  have  regretted 
their  foolishness.  As  in  the  previous 
battle,  there  was  a  heavy  downpour  of 
rain.  Washington  ordered  them  within 
the  roofless  fortress,  where  they  were 
huddled  together  in  a  miserable  plight. 
69 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

The  rain  wet  their  ammunition  so  that 
they  could  not  discharge  their  muskets. 
They  stood  knee  deep  in  mud  and 
water,  and  had  nothing  to  eat  but  raw 
beef. 

The  Half-King,  seeing  that  it  was  to 
be  a  losing  fight,  refused  to  take  part, 
and  withdrew  his  braves  to  a  safe  dis 
tance.  In  excuse  for  this  he  announced 
that  he  was  disgusted  with  the  idleness 
of  the  Independents,  and  that  Wash 
ington  was  to  blame  for  allowing  it. 
He  added  this  insult  to  his  injury: 
"The  French  are  cowards  and  the  Eng 
lish  fools!" 

Finally,  greatly  outnumbered  and 
unable  to  fight,  Colonel  Washington 
accepted  a  call  to  surrender.  He  had 
occasion  here  to  regret  that  he  had  not 
learned  French.  He  sent  Van  Braam 
to  confer  with  de  Villiers.  That 
Dutchman  returned  with  terms  of  cap 
itulation  for  Colonel  Washington  to 
70 


"DRUM-BEAT— HEART-BEAT" 

sign.  Depending  on  this  interpreter's 
translation,  he  signed  a  document  which 
stated  that  he  had  assassinated  Jumon- 
ville! 

According  to  this  agreement,  the 
young  commander  was  permitted  to 
march  out  of  Fort  Necessity  with  drums 
beating  and  colors  flying — on  July  4th, 
1754 — twenty-two  years  before  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 


Tl 


BRADDOCK'S  AIDE 

After  "snatching  victory  from  the 
jaws  of  defeat,"  the  young  commander- 
in-chief  returned  to  Mount  Vernon — 
now  his  own — a  military  hero,  and  an 
object  of  increased  admiration  among 
the  fair  sex.  His  friend  Fairfax  wrote 
him: 

"If  a  Saturday  night's  rest  cannot  be 
sufficient  to  enable  your  coming  hither 
to-morrow,  the  ladies  will  try  to  get 
horses  to  equip  our  chair,  or  attempt 
their  strength  on  foot  [four  miles]  to 
salute  you,  so  desirous  are  they  with  lov 
ing  speed  to  have  an  ocular  demonstra 
tion  of  your  being  the  same  identical 
gent  ( !)  that  lately  departed  to  defend 
his  country's  cause." 

The  modest  young  master  of  Mount 
72 


BRADDOCK'S  AIDE 


Vernon  had  opened  the  Seven  Years' 
War  in  Europe.  The  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses  saw  no  reason  for  re 
proaching  him,  handicapped  as  he  had 
been,  but  thanked  him  for  his  bravery 
in  both  battles,  and  voted  a  pistole 
(about  four  dollars)  apiece  to  his  sol 
diers. 

Govenor  Dinwiddie  began,  in  a  stu 
pid,  exasperating  way,  to  complicate 
the  opening  conflict.  The  young  com 
mander  became  involved  in  bickerings 
and  other  annoyances  on  account  of  the 
governor's  favorites.  Meanwhile  Eng 
land  sent  General  Braddock  over  to 
fight  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies. 
Washington  was  invited  to  be  one  of  his 
aides.  The  young  Colonel  did  his  best 
to  get  the  arrogant  English  general  to 
see  the  folly  of  fighting  Indians  and 
half-breeds  by  Continental  methods. 
Braddock  replied  loftily  that  such  sav 
age  soldiers  might  defeat  American 
73 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

troops  but  they  would  take  to  their  heels 
at  the  sight  of  the  red  uniform  of  the 
British  regulars. 

From  Wills's  Creek  Colonel  Wash 
ington  was  sent  to  Williamsburg  to 
bring  four  thousand  pounds  (about 
$20,000)  to  pay  the  troops.  An  escort 
of  eight  men  was  detailed  to  convoy  the 
iron  chest  containing  the  gold.  Of 
their  courage  he  wrote : 

"Eight  men  were  two  days  assem 
bling,  but  I  believe  they  would  not  have 
been  more  than  as  many  seconds  dis 
persing  if  I  had  been  attacked." 

The  Virginian  was  almost  ill  over  the 
slow  progress  of  Braddock  and  his 
army.  After  his  return  with  the  treas 
ure  chest  he  wrote  in  confidence,  to  his 
brother: 

"I  found  that  instead  of  pushing  on 

with  vigor,  without  regarding  a  little 

rough  road,  they  were  halting  to  level 

every  molehill,  and  to  erect  bridges  over 

74 


BRADDOCK'S  AIDE 


every  brook,  by  which  means  we  were 
four  days  in  getting  twelve  miles." 

This  "creeping  paralysis"  seems  to 
have  affected  the  stalwart  colonel's 
nerves.  He  lapsed  into  a  raging  fever 
and  had  to  be  carted  through  the  forest 
in  a  lumbering  wagon.  He  was  finally 
left  behind  with  a  physician,  too  ill  to 
be  moved  farther.  The  fear  lest  he 
should  fail  to  be  "in  at  the  death"  after 
all,  made  him  slip  out,  more  dead  than 
alive,  and  ride  furiously  after  the  army. 
He  caught  up  just  in  time  to  dash  into 
the  thickest  of  a  battle.  He  had  lost 
his  hat,  and  his  pallor  and  hollow,  fever- 
lighted  eyes  made  his  face  look  like  a 
frantic  death's-head. 

The  Indians,  superstitious  of  all 
strange  manifestations,  and  especially 
of  insanity,  were  afraid  of  him.  He  rode 
like  a  demon,  reckless  of  whistling  bul 
lets  and  flying  tomahawks.  In  spite  of 
everything,  Braddock  formed  his  troops 
75 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

in  platoons,  where  they  were  crowded 
together,  without  elbow  room,  their 
bright  red  uniforms  a  shining  mark  for 
French  and  savages  who  surrounded 
them  and  shot  them  down  like  so  many 
manikins. 

Dazed  by  the  devilish  din  all  around 
them,  the  English  regulars  stood  a  few 
moments,  only  to  see  their  comrades 
falling  on  every  side — then  they  broke 
and  ran  in  all  directions,  shot  down,  or 
tomahawked  and  scalped,  without  mak 
ing  the  least  resistance.  There  were 
only  two  hundred  French  soldiers  and 
six  hundred  Indians,  but  they  killed 
seven  hundred  English  regulars,  of 
whom  eighty-six  were  officers.  Brad- 
dock  himself  was  mortally  wounded, 
and  died  cursing  his  stupid  obstinacy  in 
not  following  his  young  aide's  advice. 
The  only  real  fighting  done  that  day 
was  by  those  objects  of  British  sneers, 
the  "raw  American  militia." 
76 


SHADDOCK'S  AIDE 

So  many  of  the  officers  were  killed  or 
wounded  that  as  soon  as  Braddock  fell 
the  Virginia  colonel  took  command  and 
allowed  the  men  to  fight  Indian  fashion. 
He  dashed  hither  and  thither,  with  such 
utter  abandon  that  the  Indians  thought 
he  was  charmed  by  magic  so  that  they 
could  not  hit  him.  He  had  two  horses 
shot  under  him  and  four  bullets  through 
his  coat.  He  cursed  the  frantic  regu 
lars  and  struck  them  with  the  flat  of 
his  sword,  but  it  was  useless ;  they  were 
too  frightened  to  fight  with  "devils 
straight  from  hell." 

Of  their  conduct  Washington  wrote : 

"The  dastardly  behavior  of  the  regu 
lar  troops  (so-called)  exposed  those 
who  were  inclined  to  do  their  duty  to 
almost  certain  death.  I  tremble  at  the 
consequence  this  defeat  may  have  upon 
our  back  settlers." 

The  next  day  Colonel  Washington, 
reared  in  the  Church  of  England,  read 
77 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

the  burial  service  over  the  hollowed-out 
log  in  which  the  body  of  poor,  pompous, 
insulting  General  Braddock  was  laid  to 
rest.  Then  they  beat  a  retreat  to  Fort 
Cumberland,  lately  erected  on  Wills's 
creek,  from  which  place  he  wrote  to  his 
best  beloved  brother  to  correct  a  report 
of  his  death  and  burial,  which  sounds  a 
little  like  Mark  Twain's  comment  that 
the  report  of  his  own  death  was  "grossly 
exaggerated !" 


78 


"HEART  OF  MY  HEART" 

Late  in  July,  1755,  Colonel  Washing 
ton  returned  home,  weak  from  fever, 
and  smarting  after  undeserved  defeat. 
But  he  was  not  allowed  to  rest.  In  the 
first  place  the  wealthy  young  Virginia 
planter  had  added  to  his  military  laurels 
and  had  become  a  hero  of  the  first  order. 
He  soon  received  an  appointment  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia 
forces.  After  Braddock's  defeat,  In 
dians  went  on  the  warpath  all  along 
the  Ohio  frontier,  and  appalling  stories 
came  to  the  eastern  shore  that  the  sav 
ages  were  "killing  and  destroying  all  be 
fore  them,"  and  fleeing  neighbors  re 
ported  that  when  they  left  their  homes 
they  heard  "constant  firing  and  the 
shrieks  of  the  unhappy  men  murdered." 
79 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

Military  affairs  in  the  colony  were  in 
a  turmoil.  No  one  knew  what  to  do. 
Young  Washington  looked  on  in  con 
sternation,  feeling  his  inability  to  stem 
the  tide.  His  friends  sought  to  encour 
age  him.  Colonel  Fairfax  wrote: 
"Your  good  health  and  future  are  the 
toast  of  every  table."  And  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  sent 
him  this  word : 

"Our  hopes,  dear  George,  are  all 
fixed  on  you." 

But  "dear  George"  had  to  have  an 
other  reckoning  with  his  mother.  The 
four  bullets  which  had  passed  through 
his  coat  pierced  her  mother-heart. 
Again  she  entreated  him  to  give  up  run 
ning  into  constant  danger.  He  wrote 
in  reply : 

"If  it  is  in  my  power  to  avoid  going 
to  the  Ohio  again,  I  shall,  but  if  the  com 
mand  is  pressed  upon  me  by  the  general 
voice  of  the  country,  and  offered  upon 
80 


"HEART  OF  MY  HEART" 

such  terms  as  cannot  be  objected 
against,  it  would  reflect  dishonor  upon 
me  to  refuse  it." 

It  is  at  least  interesting  to  conjecture 
what  might  have  become  of  the  United 
States  of  America  if  George  Washing 
ton  had  listened  again  to  his  mother's 
appeals  to  stay  in  safety  on  his  Vir 
ginia  plantation. 

The  foolish,  crotchety,  Scotch  gov 
ernor,  Dinwiddie,  mixed  matters  mili 
tary  very  badly  indeed,  and  subjected 
Colonel  Washington  to  annoyances 
which  he  was  not  disposed  to  brook. 
So,  to  settle  the  question  of  the  relative 
rank  of  colonial  and  crown  officers, 
the  handsome  young  colonel  and  his 
suite  rode  five  hundred  miles  to  Boston 
town  to  have  the  matter  decided  by  Gen 
eral  Shirley,  commander-in-chief  of  all 
British  forces  in  America. 

In  New  York,  Colonel  Washington 
was  taken  to  call  on  Mary  Philipse,  at 
81 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

that  day  the  wealthiest  heiress  in 
America.  A  tall  handsome  man  of 
twenty-three,  courteous,  dignified,  care 
ful  in  his  dress,  and  really  devoted  to  the 
fair  sex,  he  was  a  highly  eligible  candi 
date  for  matrimonial  honors.  It  is  said 
that  he  proposed  marriage  to  Miss  Phil- 
ipse,  but  that  is  not  likely. 

Though  he  was  much  sought  after  as 
a  man  of  wealth  and  a  hero,  his  natural 
delicacy  and  reserve  would  prevent  him 
from  proposing  marriage  to  a  compara 
tive  stranger,  however  attractive,  and 
especially  to  a  young  heiress,  as  he 
might  be  the  more  suspected  of  enter 
taining  mercenary  motives. 

The  Virginia  colonel  was  honored 
and  feasted  in  Boston  where  his  fame 
had  preceded  him.  Governor  Shir 
ley's  decision  was  in  favor  of  him  and 
of  all  colonial  officers,  making  their  rank 
equal  to  those  of  the  same  grade  ap 
pointed  by  the  crown.  So  Colonel 
82 


"HEART  OF  MY  HEART" 

Washington  returned  successful  not 
only  for  himself  but  for  his  brother  offi 
cers  also. 

While  he  was  absent  there  was  an 
Indian  uprising  on  the  western  bound 
ary  of  his  command.  After  returning 
to  Mount  Vernon  the  commander-in- 
chief ,  hurrying  to  the  frontier,  was  met 
by  a  company  of  men  and  women  driven 
from  their  homes  by  the  savages.  Of 
these  he  wrote  in  terms  reflecting  rare 
credit  upon  the  martyr  spirit  of  a  mili 
tary  officer  of  twenty-six : 

"I  am  too  little  acquainted  with  pa 
thetic  language  to  attempt  a  description 
of  the  people's  distress  but  I  would  be 
a  willing  offering  to  savage  fury  and 
die  by  inches  to  save  a  people." 

While  riding  to  and  fro  between  Wil- 
liamsburg  and  Winchester,  his  frontier 
headquarters,  he  met  at  her  estate 
known  as  "White  House,"  Mrs.  Martha 
Dandridge  Custis,  the  young  widow  of 
83 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

a  wealthy  planter  and  merchant.  The 
courtship  progressed  as  rapidly  as  pos 
sible  in  those  decorous  days,  so  that 
when  Washington  was  called  to  lead  an 
expedition  to  regain  possession  of  Fort 
Duquesne,  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  he 
penned  this  hasty  note  to  his  betrothed : 

"We  have  begun  our  march  to  the 
Ohio.  A  courier  is  starting  for  Wil- 
liamsburg,  and  I  embrace  this  oppor 
tunity  to  send  a  few  words  to  one  whose 
life  is  now  inseparable  from  mine. 

"Since  that  happy  hour  when  we 
made  our  pledges  to  each  other,  my 
thoughts  have  been  continually  going 
to  you  as  another  self.  That  an  All- 
powerful  Providence  may  keep  us  both 
in  safety  is  the  prayer  of  your  ever  faith 
ful  and  affectionate  friend, 

"G°  WASHINGTON." 

They  found  Fort  Duquesne  deserted 
and  destroyed  by  fire.     Planting  the 
84 


"HEART  OF  MY  HEART" 

Union  Jack  on  the  blackened  ruins, 
Washington  returned  home  to  prepare 
for  his  marriage.  The  wedding  took 
place  in  an  English  chapel  near  Mrs. 
Custis's  estate.  The  bride  was  known 
as  the  wealthiest  and  most  beautiful 
woman  in  all  Virginia.  She  was  dressed 
with  great  elegance,  in  silk,  satin  and 
rare  jewels.  The  groom  was  dressed  in 
blue  and  silver  with  scarlet  trimmings, 
with  gold  buckles  at  his  knees  and  on  his 
shoes.  He  rode  beside  her  coach-and- 
six  on  horseback,  and  the  wedding  party 
made  a  brilliant  and  stately  cavalcade 
as  it  climbed  the  hill  under  the  tall  elms 
of  Mount  Vernon  to  the  veranda  over 
looking  the  broad  Potomac. 


85 


BENEDICT  AND  PLANTER 

Colonel  Washington  now  thought  his 
fighting  days  were  over.  For  sixteen 
years  he  was  the  happy  benedict  and 
Virginia  planter,  looking  after  the  de 
tails  of  his  vast  estates  and  taking  care 
of  his  wife's  great  interests.  He  was 
soon  elected  to  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
one  of  the  first  representative  bodies  in 
America.  On  taking  his  seat  in  that 
august  body,  the  Speaker  took  occasion 
to  thank  him  for  his  splendid  services  to 
his  country.  Colonel  Washington  rose 
to  respond,  and  stood,  blushing  and 
stammering,  until  the  Speaker  relieved 
him  by  saying: 

"Sit  down,  Mr.  Washington.  Your 
modesty  equals  your  valor,  and  that  sur- 
86 


BENEDICT  AND  PLANTER 

passes  the  power  of  any  language  I  pos 


sess." 


Letters  are  still  preserved  in  which 
Washington  writes  for  sugar  plums  for 
little  Martha,  or  "Patsy"  Custis,  who 
died  while  a  young  girl.  Papa  Wash 
ington,  who  never  had  any  children  of 
his  own,  was  a  kind,  indulgent  step 
father.  He  was  also  a  good  friend  and 
neighbor.  He  looked  after  everything 
himself,  usually  riding  a  round  of  fif 
teen  miles  a  day,  doing  his  duty  faith 
fully  as  overseer  and  manager.  Be 
sides  all  these  and  his  social  duties,  for 
he  was  now  a  bright  and  shining  light 
among  the  "First  Families  of  Virginia," 
he  looked  after  the  interests  of  the  sol 
diers  who  had  been  under  his  command. 

One  man,  a  major  who  had  been  re 
proved  for  cowardice  at  Great  Mea 
dows,  thought  he  had  been  omitted  from 
the  distribution  of  land  given  by  the 
87 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

government  to  all  who  had  participated 
in  that  campaign,  and  wrote  Washing 
ton  an  insulting  letter  about  it.  The 
Colonel's  reply  was  vigorous : 

"Your  impertinent  letter  was  deliv 
ered  to  me  yesterday.  As  I  am  not 
accustomed  to  receive  such  from  any 
man,  nor  would  have  taken  such  lan 
guage  from  you  personally  without  let 
ting  you  feel  some  marks  of  my  resent 
ment,  I  would  advise  you  to  be  cautious 
in  writing  me  a  second  of  the  same 
tenor.  But  for  your  stupidity  and  sot- 
tishness  you  might  have  known,  by  at 
tending  to  a  public  gazette,  that  you  had 
your  full  quantity  of  ten  thousand  acres 
of  land  allotted  you.  But  suppose  you 
had  fallen  short,  do  you  think  your 
superlative  merit  entitles  you  to  a 
greater  indulgence  than  others? 

"All  my  concern  is  that  I  ever  en 
gaged  in  behalf  of  so  ungrateful  a  fel 
low  as  you  are." 

88 


CONGRESS  AND  COMMANDER 

Not  content  with  insulting  the  colo 
nies  with  her  stupid  arrogance,  Eng 
land  began  to  lay  her  plans  to  force 
them  to  pay  a  share  of  the  enormous  ex 
pense  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  abroad, 
— besides  that  involved  in  defending  her 
own  borders. 

The  passing  of  the  Stamp  Act  lashed 
the  troubled  waters  of  America  into 
such  fury  that  it  was  repealed  to  save 
the  Ship  of  State.  Then  minor  taxes 
were  levied — on  paint,  glass,  etc. — then 
on  tea.  It  was  not  the  amount  but  the 
principle  of  the  thing  that  the  colonists 
minded — the  slavery  of  taxation  with 
out  having  any  say  in  the  matter,  as  if 
the  colonists  were  mere  children  or 
slaves. 

Patrick  Henry,  a  Virginia  neighbor, 
89 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

sounded  the  war  cry,  "Give  me  liberty 
or  give  me  death,"  which  spread  over  all 
the  colonies  as  rapidly  as  a  prairie  fire. 

Beneath  his  imputed  coldness,  the 
love  of  liberty  burned  at  white  heat  in 
Washington's  passionate  heart.  Usu 
ally  a  silent  man  in  public  delibera 
tions,  he  arose  in  a  convention  assem 
bled  at  Williamsburg  to  take  action 
upon  the  English  attempt  to  starve  re 
bellious  Boston  into  submission.  His 
utterance  on  this  occasion  was  pro 
nounced  "the  most  eloquent  speech  ever 
made."  With  a  diffidence  almost  pain 
ful  he  stammered : 

"I  will  raise  a  thousand  men,  subsist 
them  at  my  own  expense,  and  march 
them  to  the  relief  of  Boston." 

Colonel  Washington  was  elected  a 
delegate  to  the  first  Continental  Con 
gress  at  Philadelphia.  He  attended  the 
meetings,  a  silent  spectator  and  adviser, 
tiptoeing  about  in  his  Colonel's  uniform, 
90 


CONGRESS  AND  COMMANDER 

but  he  was  pointed  out  as  the  famous 
Virginia  planter  who  had  done  heroic 
things  for  his  country,  and  reputed  to 
be  one  of  the  richest  men  in  America. 

While  listening  mechanically  to  John 
Adams's  speech  one  memorable  day,  not 
dreaming  of  its  import,  he  was  startled 
by  hearing  his  own  name,  followed  by 
the  motion  that  he  be  made  Commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Continental  forces.  In 
a  sudden  accession  of  shyness  he  jumped 
up  and  rushed  out  of  the  room.  In 
spite  of  his  modesty  he  was  unani 
mously  elected. 

As  General  Washington,  the  Com 
mander-in-chief,  he  did  not  have  to  ap 
pease  his  mother,  but  there  was  his  wife, 
Martha.  His  first  thought  was  of  her, 
and  sitting  down  immediately  after 
leaving  the  Congress  he  wrote  at  once 
to  break  the  painful  news  to  her: 

"You  may  believe  me,  my  dear  Patsy, 
when  I  assure  you  that,  so  far  from 
91 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

seeking  this  appointment,  I  have  used 
every  endeavor  in  my  power  to  avoid  it, 
not  only  from  my  unwillingness  to  part 
with  you  and  the  family,  but  from  a 
consciousness  of  its  being  a  trust  too 
great  for  my  capacity,  and  that  I  should 
enjoy  more  real  happiness  in  one  month 
with  you  at  home  than  I  have  the  most 
distant  prospect  of  finding  abroad,  if 
my  stay  were  to  be  seven  times  seven 
years. 

"I  shall  feel  no  pain  from  the  toil  and 
dangers  of  the  campaign;  my  unhappi- 
ness  will  flow  from  the  uneasiness  I 
know  you  will  feel  from  being  left 
alone." 

Two  days  after  Washington's  ap 
pointment  in  Philadelphia,  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  was  fought  near  Boston. 
On  his  way  there,  escorted  by  a  troop  of 
horsemen,  he  met  a  messenger  bring 
ing  the  news  to  Congress. 
92 


CONGRESS  AND  COMMANDER 

"Did  our  provincials  stand  the  fire  of 
the  regular  troops?"  he  asked  anxiously. 

"That  they  did,  and  held  their  own 
fire  in  reserve  until  the  enemy  was 
within  eight  rods." 

"Then  the  liberties  of  the  country  are 
safe!"  he  exclaimed. 

General  Washington  took  command 
on  Cambridge  Common.  One  writing 
of  that  time  describes  him  as  follows : 

"A  gallant  soldier  he  was.  Under 
the  Cambridge  elm  that  warm  July 
morning,  he  was  what  we  call  an  impos 
ing  figure.  He  was  tall,  stalwart  and 
erect,  with  thick  brown  hair  drawn  back 
into  a  queue,  as  all  gentlemen  then  wore 
it,  with  a  rosy  face  and  a  clear,  bright 
eye — a  strong,  a  healthy,  a  splendid- 
looking  man  in  his  uniform  of  blue  and 
buff,  an  epaulet  on  each  shoulder;  and 
in  his  three-cornered  hat,  the  cockade  of 
liberty." 

Washington's  command  was  a  mot- 
93 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

ley  mob  of  everything  but  soldiers,  as 
in  the  children's  button  charm,  which 
begins :  "Rich  man,  poor  man,  beggar 
man,  thief,  doctor,  lawyer,  merchant, 
chief,  tinker,  tailor" — and  farmer,  in 
stead  of  "soldier,  sailor" — and  on 
through  the  childish  lingo.  As  to  the 
officers,  the  commander-in-chief  himself 
wrote  that  they  were  often  mere  politi 
cians  who  let  their  men  do  as  they 
pleased. 

One  day  that  summer  he  found  a  Vir 
ginia  and  a  Marblehead  company  in 
something  like  a  riot.  An  eye-witness 
relates : 

"The  General  threw  the  bridle  of  his 
horse  into  his  servant's  hands,  and,  rush 
ing  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  seized 
two  tall,  brawny  riflemen  by  the  throats, 
keeping  them  at  arms'  length,  talking 
to,  and  shaking  them." 

After  getting  the  men  in  order  and 
the  siege  fortifications  under  way, 
94 


CONGRESS  AND  COMMANDER 

Washington  discovered,  to  his  great 
consternation,  that  there  had  been  a 
terrible  oversight  and  his  soldiers  had 
only  nine  rounds  of  ammunition  apiece. 

This  was  appalling!  What  if  the 
British  should  sally  forth  from  Boston 
and  attack  them?  Without  daring  to 
tell  a  soul  of  it,  he  secretly  detached  men 
to  scour  the  country  for  gunpowder, 
even  sending  a  fast  ship  to  Bermuda  to 
seize  a  supply  he  had  heard  was  stored 
there.  Meanwhile  before  the  army  he 
kept  up  a  game  of  bluff  in  which  he  was 
an  adept. 

While  suffering  this  fearful  appre 
hension,  General  Washington  happened 
to  see  from  an  upper  window  "Old 
Put,"  as  bluff  General  Putnam  was 
called,  approaching  headquarters  with  a 
big,  fat  woman  he  had  taken  prisoner 
as  a  spy,  astride  his  horse  in  front  of 
him. 

General  Putnam's  serious  face,  while 
95 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

bringing  such  a  prisoner  of  war,  ap 
pealed  to  Washington's  sense  of  humor 
so  that  he  laughed,  as  he  often  did,  till 
the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks.  Yet 
when  "Old  Put"  arrived  and  presented 
the  creature,  the  superior  officer's  face 
was  a  model  of  gravity.  This  incident 
served  to  relieve  the  terrible  tension  of 
those  long  weeks  of  suspense. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1776,  Wash 
ington  raised,  over  his  headquarters  in 
Cambridge,  the  flag  of  the  United 
Colonies,  consisting  of  thirteen  red  and 
white  stripes  for  the  thirteen  colonies 
and  the  British  double  cross  in  the  can 
ton,  showing  that  the  people  were  then 
fighting  for  their  rights  as  subjects  of 
the  crown,  and  not  for  separation  from 
the  Mother  Country.  At  that  time  the 
king's  speech  was  being  promulgated  in 
Boston  containing  insulting  threats  for 
the  rebels  in  arms  against  their  sover 
eign.  Of  this  Washington  wrote: 
96 


CONGRESS  AND  COMMANDER 

"Before  the  proclamation  came  to 
hand  we  had  hoisted  the  Union  flag  in 
compliment  to  the  United  Colonies. 
But  behold !  It  was  received  in  Boston 
as  a  token  of  the  deep  impression  the 
speech  had  made  upon  us,  and  as  a  sig 
nal  of  submission. 

"By  this  time,  I  presume  they  begin 
to  think  it  strange  we  have  not  made  a 
formal  surrender  of  our  lives!" 

Those  ragged  regiments  under  the 
patient  masterfulness  of  their  com- 
mander-in-chief  slowly  tightened  the 
coil  around  Boston,  and  when  they  had 
acquired  powder  enough,  they  bom 
barded  it  and  drove  the  British  out  of 
the  city.  The  British  leaders  were  at  a 
theater  witnessing  a  burlesque  on  "the 
cowardice  of  the  Yankees,"  when  the 
cannonading  began. 

Edward  Everett  Hale,  "the  first  citi 
zen  of  Boston"  a  century  later,  told  a 
story  of  Washington,  after  his  entry 
97 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

into  that  city,  and  while  staying  at  a 
tavern  which  General  Howe  had  made 
his  headquarters.  Always  fond  of 
children,  he  made  a  pet  of  the  inn-keep 
er's  daughter.  Holding  the  little  girl 
on  his  knee,  General  Washington  asked 
her: 

"Now  that  you  have  seen  the  soldiers 
on  both  sides,  which  do  you  like  the 
best?" 

The  child,  who,  like  himself,  could  not 
tell  a  lie,  replied: 

"I  like  the  'red-coats'  best." 

This  answer  made  the  General  laugh 
and  he  said,  indulgently: 

"Yes,  my  dear,  the  red-coats  do  look 
the  best,  but  it  takes  the  ragged  boys  to 
do  the  fighting." 

After  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  Gen 
eral  Washington  wrote  to  "dear  Jack:" 

"The  want  of  arms  and  powder  is  not 
peculiar  to  Virginia.     This  country,  of 
98 


CONGRESS  AND  COMMANDER 

which  doubtless  you  have  heard  large 
and  flattering  accounts,  is  more  defi 
cient  in  both  than  you  can  conceive  and 
I  have  been  obliged  to  submit  to  all  the 
insults  of  the  enemy's  cannon  for  want 
of  powder,  keeping  what  little  we  had 
for  pistol  distance. 

"I  believe  I  may  with  truth  affirm 
that  no  man,  perhaps,  ever  commanded 
under  more  difficult  circumstances.  To 
enumerate  the  circumstances  would  fill 
a  volume.  .  .  . 

"As  I  am  now  nearly  at  my  eighth 
page,  I  think  it  time  to  conclude;  espe 
cially  as  I  set  out  with  prefacing  the  lit 
tle  time  I  had  for  friendly  correspond 
ences.  I  shall  only  add,  therefore,  my 
affectionate  regards  to  my  sister  and 
the  children,  and  compliments  to 
friends ;  and  that  I  am,  with  every  senti 
ment  of  true  affection,  your  loving 
brother  and  faithful  friend, 

"GEORGE." 
99 


THE  FLAG  AND  THE  DECLARATION 

Washington  was  not  like  an  Indian, 
who  likes  to  remain  and  gorge  or  gloat 
over  his  great  victory.  His  work  in 
New  England  was  done.  He  lost  no 
time  in  sending  his  army  to  the  next 
scene  of  conflict,  New  York. 

Even  here  he  had  to  take  command 
of  a  "badly  armed,  undisciplined,  dis 
orderly  rabble."  Most  of  the  troops 
there  were  an  aggregation  of  farmers 
and  militia,  armed  only  with  the  guns 
they  happened  to  have  in  their  homes. 

Soon  after  arriving  in  New  York, 
General  Washington  was  invited  by 
John  Hancock,  still  president  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  to  come  to  Phil 
adelphia  and  consult  with  the  leaders 
100 


THE  DECLARATION'. 


about  breaking  with  and  separating 
from  the  Mother  Country. 

It  was  during  this  advisory  visit  that 
Washington  was  appointed  chairman 
of  a  secret  committee  to  devise  a  stand 
ard  to  take  the  place  of  the  flag  of  the 
United  Colonies.  It  was  appropriate 
that  this  should  be  assigned  to  him,  but 
as  he  was  not  then  a  member  of  the 
Congress,  no  record  was  made  of  the 
matter. 

The  story  of  Betsy  Ross,  the  little 
Quaker  upholsterer  and  seamstress,  has 
been  confirmed.  General  Washington 
called  at  her  little  home  with  Robert 
Morris  and  George  Ross  to  order  the 
first  flag  made  in  case  the  Congress 
should  pass  a  resolution  making  thir 
teen  States  of  the  thirteen  Colonies. 
The  design  he  showed  the  buxom  widow 
contained  thirteen  six-pointed  white 
stars  in  a  circle  on  a  blue  field,  to  take 
the  place  of  the  British  union  of  crosses. 
101 


HEART  OF  "WASHINGTON 

The  stripes  remained  the  same  as  in  the 
United  Colonies  flag.  Mrs.  Ross's  ac 
count  of  the  changing  of  the  design, 
from  the  six-pointed  British  star  to  a 
five-pointed  star,  which  was  original  and 
easier  to  cut,  must  have  been  correct. 

It  is  sometimes  stated  that  Washing 
ton  modified  his  own  family  coat-of- 
arms  for  the  Flag  of  the  United  States. 
The  resemblance  is  too  far-fetched,  es 
pecially  considering  that  he  had  six- 
pointed  stars  in  his  design  at  first.  The 
colonies  were  revolting  against  a  mon 
archy,  with  all  its  heraldry  and  heredi 
tary  titles,  and  Washington  was  not  the 
kind  of  man  to  foist  his  own  family  crest 
upon  a  new  nation. 

Also  this  flag  was  to  be  the  first  ban 
ner  of  the  people — the  standard  of 
liberty — and  citizens  were  to  be  free  to 
arrange  the  stars  as  they  chose,  in  token 
of  popular  liberties.  Washington  ex 
pressed  his  own  beautiful  sentiment  con- 
102 


THJti 


earning  the  Flag,  which  in  itself  should 
prove  that  he  had  no  thought  of  his 
own  family  coat-of  -arms  : 

"We  take  the  star  from  Heaven,  the 
red  from  our  Mother  Country,  separat 
ing  it  by  white  stripes,  thus  showing  that 
we  have  separated  from  her,  and  the 
white  stripes  shall  go  down  to  posterity 
representing  liberty." 

General  Washington  returned  to  his 
headquarters  at  New  York,  June  6th, 
so  he  had  no  part  in  the  historic  scenes 
of  the  Congress  when  debating,  passing, 
and  signing  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence;  but  he  did  more  than  any 
man  there  to  make  the  United  States  of 
America  a  free  and  independent  nation. 

While  he  was  in  New  York  waiting 
for  action,  a  plot  to  kidnap  him  was 
frustrated,  and  Thomas  Hickey,  the 
treacherous  member  of  his  guard,  was 
tried  by  court  martial  and  hanged  in  the 
presence  of  twenty  thousand  spectators 
103 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

for  his  "most  barbarous  and  infernal 
plot." 

After  the  proclamation  of  the  Dec 
laration  of  Independence  in  the  leading 
cities,  the  English  king  and  his  ministry 
began  to  see  what  a  mistake  they  had 
made,  and  Lord  Howe  was  authorized 
to  open  negotiations  for  some  kind  of  a 
compromise.  Not  wishing  to  recognize 
Washington  as  anything  but  the  leader 
of  a  mob  of  rebels,  they  addressed  a 
letter  to  "Mr."  George  Washington. 
This  the  General's  secretary  would  not 
receive.  Then  an  officer  appeared  with 
a  communication  for  "George  Wash 
ington,  Esq.,  etc.,  etc."  Though  the 
officer  was  received  with  scrupulous 
courtesy,  the  letter  was  not  accepted. 

"But  the  'etc.,  etc.'  implies  every 
thing"  urged  the  official  messenger. 

"It  may  also  mean  anything!"  said 
General  Washington,  with  a  hearty 
laugh. 

104 


THE  DECLARATION 

A  gentleman  at  headquarters  relates 
an  example  of  the  unfailing  courtesy 
and  good  humor  Washington  mani 
fested,  whenever  he  could,  toward  his 
chief  enemy. 

"One  day  a  fine  sporting  dog,  which 
was  evidently  lost,  came  to  ask  for  some 
dinner.  On  its  collar  were  the  words, 
General  Howe.  It  was  the  British 
commander's  dog!  It  was  sent  hack 
under  a  flag  of  truce,  with  the  following 
note : 

"  'General  Washington  to  General 
Howe, — does  himself  the  pleasure  to  re 
turn  him  a  dog,  which  accidentally  fell 
into  his  hands,  and  by  the  inscription 
on  the  collar,  appears  to  belong  to  Gen 
eral  Howe.' 

"General  Howe  replied  by  a  warm 
letter  of  thanks  to  this  act  of  courtesy 
on  the  part  of  his  enemy,  our  general." 

In  spite  of  these  little  courtesies 
Washington  wanted  it  distinctly  under- 
105 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

stood  that  the  pardoning  power  of  Lord 
Howe  was  too  late  and  it  was  utterly 
useless  to  extend  it,  as  the  provincials 
were  doing  no  wrong  in  fighting  for 
their  inalienable  rights. 

Those  were  "the  times  that  try  men  s 
souls,"  and  especially  was  the  great  soul 
of  George  Washington  severely  tested. 
Of  his  sore  trials  as  commander-in-chief 
old  John  Adams,  "the  Father  of  the 
Revolution,"  said  at  this  time: 

"It  requires  more  serenity  of  temper, 
a  deeper  understanding,  and  more 
courage  than  fell  to  the  lot  of  Marlbor- 
ough,  to  ride  in  this  whirlwind." 


106 


DEFEATS  AND  RETREATS 

The  American  army,  if  it  could  be 
called  such,  had  to  defend  too  much  ter 
ritory  against  the  superior  and  trained 
forces  of  the  enemy.  Defeat  and  cap 
ture  seemed  inevitable.  But  the  troops 
fought  heroically,  and  Washington,  the 
subtle  strategist,  planned  such  masterly 
retreats  that  they  proved,  in  the  long 
run,  to  be  victories. 

The  morning  after  the  battle  of  Long 
Island  the  British  General  "put  out  his 
hand  to  take  the  nest  of  rebels,"  as  he 
called  it,  "but  the  birds  had  flown." 
There  had  seemed  to  be  no  escape. 
Washington  and  his  brave  little  army 
were  surrounded  and  certain  to  be  taken 
prisoners  in  the  morning.  That  would 
end  the  war  in  favor  of  the  British. 
107 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

But  a  thick  fog  came  up  during  the 
late  August  night.  The  General,  al 
ways  alert,  seized  the  opportunity. 
Setting  a  company  of  Massachusetts 
fishermen  and  sailors  to  work,  he  got  to 
gether  all  the  river  craft  (rendered  use 
less  for  other  purposes  by  the  fog)  and 
effected  their  escape  to  the  main  land 
before  the  enemy  suspected  what  was 
going  on.  Soon  after  this  stroke  of 
genius  he  wrote  of  his  policy: 

"It  would  be  presumption  to  draw 
our  young  troops  into  open  ground 
against  their  superiors  both  in  number 
and  discipline,  and  I  have  never  spared 
the  spade  and  pick-axe." 

This  was  the  secret  of  Washington's 
success.  He  knew  how  to  use  the 
means  at  hand.  He  had  learned  that 
often  a  spade  is  better  than  a  bayonet, 
and  a  pick-axe  more  useful  than  a 
sword. 

In  September  there  was  an  encounter 
108 


DEFEATS  AND  RETREATS 

with  the  British  at  Kip's  Bay.  Two  or 
three  of  his  regiments,  panic-stricken, 
broke  and  started  to  run,  but  Washing 
ton,  white  with  wrath,  headed  them  off 
with  pistols,  threatening  to  shoot  them, 
and  striking  them  with  the  flat  of  his 
sword — so  by  frightening  them  more 
than  all  the  British,  he  drove  them  back 
.into  their  intrenchments. 

There  was  a  short,  sharp,  decisive 
skirmish  at  White  Plains  and  another 
retreat.  Then  came  the  loss  of  Fort 
Washington  with  twenty-six  hundred 
men  and  all  the  munitions  of  war.  This 
was  a  catastrophe  which  meant  irre 
trievable  ruin  to  the  cause  of  freedom  in 
America. 

Yet  even  this  shattering  of  his  hopes 
did  not  hurt  his  father-heart  like  seeing 
his  beloved  men  wounded  and  dying. 
Before  entering  the  hopeless  battle  of 
Long  Island  he  had  clenched  teeth  and 
fists,  as  he  muttered  to  Heaven,  "Good 
109 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

God,  what  brave  fellows  I  must  this  day 
lose!"  So  here,  helpless,  on  the  oppo 
site  side  of  the  Hudson,  he  stood  watch 
ing  the  fortunes  of  war  through  a  spy 
glass,  crying  out  and  sobbing  as  he  saw 
the  British  cutting  and  slashing  his  dear 
soldiers  with  their  bayonets  until,  tear- 
blinded  and  heartsick,  he  could  see  no 
more.  Yet  the  Father  of  His  Country 
is  known  to  millions  of  his  children  as 
cold,  distant,  and  pompous  like  a  statue 
of  stone  or  ice! 


110 


\TURNING  THE  TIDE 

Heroic  manhood  is  but  one  form  of 
that  eternal  verity  which,  "crushed  to 
earth,  will  rise  again."  Truth,  in  this 
case,  had  to  get  up  and  run,  for  Wash 
ington  is  next  seen  flying  across  New 
Jersey  at  the  head  of  the  remnant  of  an 
army  described  as  a  "hopeless  gang  of 
tramps."  They  were  running  away, 
hoping  against  hope  that  they  might 
"live  to  fight  another  day."  Sometimes 
their  pursuers  were  so  close  on  their 
heels  that  they  were  entering  a  village 
at  one  side  while  Washington  and  his 
"ragged  rebels"  were  leaving  it  at  the 
other.  Once  they  gained  time  by  cross 
ing  the  river  and  destroying  all  the 
boats,  so  that  the  British  could  not  fol 
low. 

Ill 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

One  night  a  little  girl  in  a  house  where 
Washington  had  found  refuge  begged 
to  see  the  strange  man  harbored  there 
for  the  night.  The  General  smiled 
sadly  at  her  curiosity,  and  said: 

"Well,  my  dear,  you  see  a  very  tired 
man  in  a  very  dirty  shirt!" 

As  soon  as  he  gained  a  little  breathing 
space  ahead  of  the  British,  Washington 
began  to  plan  a  side  attack  which  might 
turn  the  tables  and  retrieve  the  fortunes 
of  the  Revolution.  Staking  all  on  a 
desperate  throw,  he  sent  a  brief  message, 
two  days  ahead,  to  Colonel  Cadwalader, 
informing  him  that  he  was  going  to  sur 
prise  and  capture  some  hired  Hessians 
by  doing  what  seemed  to  be  impossible 
— crossing  the  Delaware  through  a  mass 
of  great  cakes  of  floating  ice. 

This  was  Washington's  order: 

"Christmas  Day  at  night,  one  hour 
before  day,  is  the  time  fixed  for  the  at 
tempt  on  Trenton.  For  Heaven's  sake, 
112 


TURNING  THE  TIDE 

keep  this  to  yourself,  as  the  discovery  of 
it  may  prove  fatal  to  us." 

It  was  a  desperately  brilliant  stroke. 
With  "Victory  or  Death!"  for  the 
countersign,  they  crossed  the  river  in 
a  blinding  storm.  The  surprise  was 
complete,  the  battle  was  won  and  the 
tide  of  the  Revolution  was  turned.  Al 
most  the  only  losses  on  the  American 
side  were  those  of  men  frozen  to  death 
on  that  bitter  cold  night.  One  of  the 
prisoners  taken  at  Trenton  recorded  of 
Washington  that  "His  eyes  have  scarce 
any  fire."  How  could  they  after  his 
sleepless,  haunting  experiences,  leading 
a  tattered  army  which  the  enemy  tracked 
by  the  blood  spots  left  upon  the  snow 
by  the  soldiers'  feet?  No  wonder  those 
deep,  serene,  blue-gray  eyes  had  lost 
their  fire — yet  the  fervent  fires  in  Wash 
ington's  heart  could  not  be  extinguished. 

The  victory  at  Trenton  was  oppor 
tune.  It  had  a  tonic  effect,  not  only 
113 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

on  the  commander-in-chief,  but  also  on 
the  men  whose  time  would  be  up  on  the 
first  of  January,  and  who  must  be  paid, 
especially  if  they  were  to  be  induced  to 
reenlist.  Coward  Congress  was  giving 
up  the  struggle  as  hopeless.  Not  only 
was  Washington  fighting  the  British 
single-handed,  but  he  was  suffering 
more  from  the  Congress  than  from  the 
enemy.  He  had  been  paying  the  men 
out  of  his  private  fortune,  and  the 
Congress  was  more  than  willing  he 
should. 

But  Washington,  wealthy  as  he  was, 
had  no  more  money  at  command.  In  a 
new  hope,  born  of  the  despair  he  had 
just  escaped,  he  wrote  to  Robert  Mor 
ris,  known  as  "the  financier  of  the  Rev 
olution,"  that  the  success  of  the  cause 
depended  on  his  having  fifty  thousand 
dollars  by  New  Year's  Day. 

That  staunch  patriot  arose  early  the 
next  morning,  went  out  and  raised  the 
114 


TURNING  THE  TIDE 

money  on  his  private  note  and  his  sacred 
honor,  sent  it  to  Washington  to  save  the 
day  and  the  country,  and  promised  his 
further  support,  personal  as  well  as 
official. 

There  was  joy  in  Washington's  heart, 
and  fire  in  his  eye,  when  the  men  were 
paid  off  that  memorable  New  Year's 
Day.  Now  there  was  hope  for  Liberty. 
The  British  general,  Cornwallis,  had 
followed  and  surrounded  him  at  a  bend 
in  the  Delaware,  still  filled  with  blocks 
of  ice.  Here  another  time  the  British 
retired  at  night  sure  of  their  prey. 
Cornwallis  told  some  of  his  officers  that 
they  would  "bag  the  old  fox  in  the  morn- 
ing." 

But  "the  old  fox"  was  not  to  be 
caught  napping.  While  Cornwallis 
was  asleep  he  crept  out  and  around  the 
foe,  beating  part  of  the  British  force  at 
Princeton,  January  3,  1777,  before  the 
astounded  British  fox-hunter  came  up 
115 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

— then  Washington  was  ready  to  fight 
him.  The  General  alarmed  his  men 
and  officers  by  dashing  along  in  front 
within  thirty  yards  of  the  British.  One 
of  his  colonels  rushed  into  the  battle 
smoke  after  his  chief.  When  the  action 
was  over,  finding  the  General  still  un 
hurt,  he  burst  into  tears  and  waved  his 
hat,  shouting:  "Thank  God  your  Ex 
cellency  is  safe!"  Washington,  always 
serene  in  the  greatest  danger,  waved  his 
hat  in  returning  the  loyal  salute,  and 
seizing  the  devoted  officer  by  the  hand 
he  exclaimed: 

"Away,  my  dear  colonel,  and  bring 
up  the  troops — the  day  is  our  own!" 


116 


IN  THE  VALLEY 

The  Congress,  still  wrangling  and 
back-biting,  failed  to  support  the  army 
in  the  field.  In  spite  of  his  stout  heart, 
even  Robert  Morris's  resources  were 
limited.  On  his  way  to  fight  Lord 
Howe,  Washington  called  at  Morris's 
office  in  Philadelphia.  A  clerk  who 
was  present  told  this  story  of  their  in 
terview  : 

"  'Can  you  help  us?'  pleaded  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  in  a  voice  husky  with 
emotion. 

"Morris  shook  his  head  sadly,  saying: 
'I  have  used  up  my  own  means  and 
credit.  I  am  deeply  grieved  to  admit 
that  I  can  do  nothing  now — nothing!' 

"General  Washington,  covering  his 
face  with  his  large  hands,  so  that  the 
117 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

fingers  touched  his  forehead,  burst  into 
an  abandon  of  weeping,  and  as  he  sat 
there  sobbing,  the  tears  trickled  through 
his  fingers  and  dropped  down  his  wrists. 
But  he  soon  gained  his  normal  compos 
ure,  arose  and  went  out  without  a  word. 
Two  days  later,  September  11,  1777, 
Washington  met  Lord  Howe  at 
Brandywine  and  was  defeated." 

The  losing  battle  of  Germantown  fol 
lowed  on  October  4th.  Washington 
wrote  of  it  to  "Brother  Jack": 

"The  anxiety  you  have  been  under 
on  account  of  this  army,  I  can  easily 
conceive.  Would  to  God  there  had 
been  less  cause  for  it! 

"But  for  a  thick  fog,  which  rendered 
it  so  infinitely  dark  at  times  as  not  to 
distinguish  friend  from  foe  at  the  dis 
tance  of  thirty  yards,  we  should,  I  be 
lieve,  have  made  a  glorious  day  of  it. 
But  Providence  or  some  unaccountable 
118 


IN  THE  VALLEY 


something  designed  it  otherwise;  for 
after  we  had  driven  the  enemy  a  mile  or 
two,  after  they  were  in  the  utmost  con 
fusion  and  flying  before  us  in  most 
places,  after  we  were  upon  the  point 
(as  it  appeared  to  everybody)  of  grasp 
ing  a  complete  victory,  our  own  troops 
took  fright  and  fled  in  precipitation  and 
disorder.  .  .  . 

"Our  distress  on  account  of  clothing 
is  great,  and  in  a  little  time  it  must  be 
very  sensibly  felt,  unless  some  expedi 
ent  can  be  hit  upon  to  obtain  them. 

"P.  S.  I  had  scarce  finished  this  let 
ter,  when  by  express  from  the  State  of 
New  York  I  received  the  important  and 
glorious  news — of  Burgoyne's  surren 
der  at  Saratoga. 

"I  most  devoutly  congratulate  you, 
my  country  and  every  well-wisher  to  the 
cause,  on  this  signal  stroke  of  provi 
dence. 

"Yrs.  as  before"  [GEORGE] 
119 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

Their  "great  distress  on  account  of 
clothing"  was  "very  sensibly  felt"  dur 
ing  the  "long  and  dreary  winter"  that 
followed  at  Valley  Forge.  Howe  and 
the  British  were  feasting  and  reveling 
in  Philadelphia,  a  score  of  miles  away, 
while  many  of  Washington's  brave  sol 
diers  were  dying  of  exposure  and  star 
vation. 

Not  enough  were  the  physical  hard 
ships  of  that  awful  period,  but  a  dispo 
sition  of  humankind  was  manifest,  in 
Congress  and  elsewhere,  to  "kick  him 
while  he's  down!" 

Washington's  noble  generosity  and 
self-sacrificing  patriotism  weighed  lit 
tle  in  the  balance  against  the  envy  of  his 
bitter  enemies;  he  was  also  "hurt  in  the 
house  of  his  friends."  Conspiracy  was 
at  its  height  when  his  fortunes  were  at 
their  lowest.  Jealous,  ungrateful  op 
position  to  Washington  reached  its 
high-water  mark  in  that  hideous  com- 
120 


IN  THE  VALLEY 


bination  of  enmity  and  treachery  known 
as  the  Conway  Cabal. 

While  his  hands  were  tied  they  lashed 
his  quivering  flesh.  The  purpose  of  the 
conspiracy  was,  as  Washington  himself 
said,  "that  General  Gates  was  to  be  ex 
alted  on  the  ruin  of  my  reputation  and 
influence." 

During  those  heart-rending  hours  the 
General,  to  the  last  a  devout  Church 
man,  sought  refuge  in  prayer.  Canon 
Sutherland  has  described  him  then: 

"A  show 

To  the  disdainful,  heaven-blinded  foe, 
Unlauded,  unsupported,  disobeyed, 
Thwarted,  maligned,  conspired  against,  betrayed. 
Yet  nothing  could  unheart  him.     Wouldst  thou 

know 

His  secret?  There,  in  that  thicket  on  the  snow 
Washington  knelt  before  his  God  and  prayed." 

The  cabal  ended  in  an  unexpected 

way.     General  Conway  was  shot  in  a 

duel,  and  thinking  he  had  not  long  to 

live,  made  this  supposed  deathbed  con- 

121 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

fession  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Wash 
ington: 

"PHILADELPHIA,  23d  July,  1778. 
"SiR: 

"I  find  myself  just  able  to  hold  a  pen 
during  a  few  minutes,  and  take  the  op 
portunity  of  expressing  my  sincere 
grief  for  having  done,  written,  or  said 
anything  disagreeable  to  your  Excel 
lency.  My  career  will  soon  be  over, 
therefore  justice  and  truth  prompt  me 
to  declare  my  last  sentiments.  You  are 
in  my  eyes  the  great  and  good  man. 
May  you  long  enjoy  the  love,  venera 
tion  and  esteem  of  these  States,  whose 
liberties  you  have  asserted  by  your  vir 
tues. 

"I  am,  with  the  greatest  respect,  &c., 
"THOMAS  CONWAY." 


122 


"WHOM  CAN  WE  TRUST  NOW?" 

After  Valley  Forge  came  the  battle 
of  Monmouth  and  the  treachery  of 
General  Charles  Lee,  in  whose  honesty 
the  commander-in-chief  had  reposed 
great  faith.  Lee  had  been  a  British 
prisoner  and  was  lately  released.  Evi 
dently  he  had  bargained  to  deliver 
Washington  and  his  army  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  This  battle 
seemed  to  suit  his  purpose.  Instead  of 
advancing  to  the  attack,  as  commanded, 
he  began  to  retreat. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  A.  B.  Hyde,  late  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  Denver  University,  Colo 
rado,  told  the  writer  of  his  grandfather, 
who  was  with  General  Washington 
from  Cambridge  to  Yorktown: 
123 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

"At  the  battle  of  Monmouth  Grand 
father  Hinckley  was  hardly  ten  yards 
from  the  spot  where  Washington,  com 
ing  upon  the  scene,  met  Lee  retreating. 

"  'General  Lee,  you  have  disobeyed 
my  orders!'  came  loud  and  clear  from 
Washington's  lips. 

"  'By  God,  I  have  not!'  yelled  Lee. 

"'By  God,  you  have!  Go  to  the 
rear,'  thundered  Washington,  with  face 
ablaze.  Reforming  with  furious  en 
ergy,  he  rescued  and  regained  the  day. 
Calm  histories  soften  the  incident.  I 
give  you  what  Grandfather  Hinckley 
said  he  heard  and  saw." 

Though  General  Lee  was  disgraced, 
there  were  many,  as  is  usual  in  such  in 
stances,  who  believed  him  innocent  of 
any  criminal  intent,  though  there  was 
no  doubt  of  it  in  Washington's  mind. 
Eighty  years  afterward  a  document  was 
discovered  which  proved  that  Lee  was 
124 


"WHOM  CAN  WE  TRUST?" 

really  trying  to  deliver  Washington's 
command  into  the  power  of  the  enemy 
for  a  large  bribe  in  British  money  and 
preferment. 

The  winter  which  followed  in  en 
campment  near  Morristown,  New  Jer 
sey,  exceeded  the  horrors,  in  some  re 
spects,  of  that  at  Valley  Forge. 

Lafayette  returned  to  France  to  join 
forces  with  the  French  friends  of  lib 
erty  and  helped  Franklin  and  his 
colleagues  in  raising  "sinews  of  war" 
for  the  struggle  in  the  United 
States. 

In  the  meantime  Congress,  petty  and 
jealous,  was  afraid  General  Washing 
ton  might  use  his  too-great  popularity 
to  make  himself  military  dictator,  if  not 
emperor  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
objected  by  that  legislative  body: 

"That  his  influence  was  already  too 
great;  that  even  his  virtues  afforded  mo 
tives  for  alarm;  that  the  enthusiasm  of 
125 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

the  army  joined  to  the  kind  of  dictator 
ship  already  confided  to  him,  put  Con 
gress  and  the  United  States  at  his 
mercy;  that  it  was  not  expedient  to  ex 
pose  a  man  of  the  highest  virtue  to  such 
temptations." 

Though  his  bitterest  enemies  in  the 
Conway  cabal  had  been  discomfited, 
there  were  still  many  in  and  out  of  Con 
gress  who  were  hostile  to  Washington. 
Not  all  the  people  were  patriots  even 
in  those  good  old  days.  Greed,  graft, 
selfishness,  and  venality  prevailed  then, 
and  ghouls  stood  like  buzzards,  ready 
to  feed  upon  the  apparently  dying 
cause. 

Then  came  the  treason  of  Arnold, 
who  had  served  his  country  with  signal 
bravery. 

This  stung  the  heart  of  his  friend, 

the     commander-in-chief.     When     the 

dispatch  was  handed  to  him  it  is  said 

that  he  read  it  and  clasped  his  hands 

126 


"WHOM  CAN  WE  TRUST?" 

above  his  head  as  he  exclaimed,  in  an 
guish  of  spirit: 

"Whom  can  we  trust  now?" 
But  the  emotion  passed  quickly,  and 
Washington  was  again  the  stern,  in 
flexible  general,  ordering  and  planning 
to  capture  the  traitor  and  bring  his 
British  confederate,  the  brilliant  and  at 
tractive  young  Andre,  to  justice.  Ar 
nold  made  his  escape  to  the  British  and 
Andre  was  executed,  as  the  British  had 
hanged  young  Nathan  Hale,  an  Ameri 
can  patriot  and  spy.  Yet  sentimental 
ists  made  a  great  hue  and  cry  over 
Washington's  hardness  of  heart  in  not 
sparing  young  Andre,  and  a  so-called 
poetess  wrote  some  vitriolic  verses  be 
ginning,  "Remorseless  Washington!" 


127 


"GONE  TO  CATCH  CORNWALLIS" 

Gates,  the  general  favored  by  Con 
gress,  was  sent  south  to  stop  the  British 
ravages  and  outrages  there.  He  failed 
signally,  as  Washington  knew  he  would. 
Meanwhile,  glad  tidings  came  from  La 
fayette  that  France  was  to  send  soldiers, 
ships,  and  treasure  in  aid  of  the  cause  of 
liberty.  But  the  promised  French  aid 
was  a  long  time  on  the  way.  Washing 
ton,  chained  to  the  neighborhood  of 
New  York  to  watch  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
was  kept  in  constant  torture,  hearing  of 
the  lingering  fiasco  in  the  South.  On 
learning  that  his  nephew,  then  in  charge 
of  Mount  Vernon,  had  offered  the  Brit 
ish  soldiers  and  sailors  comfort  and  re 
freshment  to  save  that  beautiful  estate, 
he  wrote : 

128 


"TO  CATCH  CORNWALLIS" 

"Dear  Lund:  It  would  have  been 
a  less  painful  circumstance  to  me  to 
have  heard  that,  in  consequence  of  your 
non-compliance  with  their  request,  they 
had  burnt  my  house  and  laid  the  plan 
tation  in  ruins." 

At  last  word  came  that  the  French 
fleet  would  soon  be  in  Virginia  waters, 
and  Washington  stole  away  from  his 
post  near  New  York.  He  was  well  on 
his  way  to  Virginia  before  Clinton 
missed  him.  As  he  and  his  men  passed 
quickly  through  Philadelphia,  the  peo 
ple  cheered  and  shouted:  "Long  live 
Washington!  He  has  gone  to  catch 
Cornwallis  in  his  mouse-trap !" 

The  French  met  and  cooperated  with 
Washington  by  land  and  sea,  and  Corn 
wallis  was  trapped  in  Yorktown.  After 
a  long  bombardment  Cornwallis  sur 
rendered,  in  October,  1781.  The  Brit 
ish  troops  marched  out  to  the  tune  of 
"The  World  Turned  Upside  Down." 
129 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

At  the  time  of  the  capitulation  Wash 
ington  announced  to  the  American 
troops : 

"My  brave  fellows,  let  no  sense  of 
satisfaction  for  the  triumphs  you  have 
gained  induce  you  to  insult  your  fallen 
enemy.  Let  no  shouting,  no  clamorous 
huzzahing  increase  their  mortification. 
It  is  sufficient  for  us  that  we  witness 
their  humiliation.  Posterity  will  huz- 
zah  for  us." 

Men  are  learning  in  these  last  days 
to  love  their  enemies  and  how  to  "do 
unto  others,"  but  George  Washington 
was  a  Knight  of  the  Great  Heart  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  Not  only  did  he 
refuse  to  humiliate  Cornwallis  by  re 
quiring  him  to  surrender  his  sword,  but 
he  gave  a  dinner  in  honor  of  his  British 
prisoner.  In  courtesy  to  his  distin 
guished  guest  this  toast  had  to  be  pro 
posed,  "The  King  of  England,"  which 
Washington  did  with  becoming  gravity 
130 


"TO  CATCH  CORNWALLIS" 

— adding  a  sentiment  of  his  own,  in  an 
undertone,  "May  he  stay  there!"  with 
such  a  mischievous  expression  that  even 
Cornwallis  laughed,  and  became  his 
captor's  friend  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Through  the  thirteen  States,  the 
watchmen  on  their  rounds,  after  swift 
messengers  arrived  from  Yorktown, 
making  their  usual  midnight  announce 
ment  in  the  frosty  air:  "Twelve 
o'clock  and  all  is  well,"  added  "and 
Cornwallis  is  taken!" 

Among  those  who  received  the  signal 
tidings  about  the  man  he  had  loved,  en 
couraged  and  aided  in  earlier  days,  was 
Lord  Fairfax,  who  remained  a  staunch 
Tory  to  the  end.  The  feeble  old  man 
was  so  bitterly  out  of  sympathy  with  his 
former  protege  that,  when  he  heard  of 
the  surrender  of  the  British,  he  called 
to  his  colored  body-servant: 

"Come,  Joe,  carry  me  to  bed,  for  it  is 
high  time  for  me  to  die!" 
131 


"THE  BITTER  END" 

General  Washington  had  to  turn 
away  from  the  rejoicings  of  victory  and 
make  haste  to  the  bedside  of  his  step 
son,  Jack  Custis,  who  was  dying  of  con 
sumption.  Beside  the  deathbed  he 
adopted  Jack's  two  little  children, 
Nelly  Custis,  afterward  "the  daughter 
of  the  nation,"  and  George  Washington 
Parke  Custis,  who  has  left  valuable 
recollections  of  his  foster-father's  life. 

American  independence  was  tacitly 
won,  but  peace  was  delayed  by  the  slow 
means  of  locomotion  of  that  day,  and 
tedious  forms  which  had  to  be  gone 
through.  Yet  there  were  triumphant 
celebrations  in  all  the  centers  of  the  new 
nation.  A  grand  ball  was  given  in 
General  Washington's  honor  at  Fred- 
132 


"THE  BITTER  END" 

ericksburg,  where  his  old  mother  lived, 
having  moved  into  town  from  Ferry 
Farm.  He  had  provided  a  comfortable 
home  for  her,  as  she  was  too  exacting  to 
live  with  any  of  her  children.  She  took 
a  querulous  pride  in  having  it  under 
stood  that  whatever  others  might  think 
of  her  illustrious  son,  he  was  no  better 
than  he  ought  to  be,  so  she  could  not 
quite  approve  of  him.  Also,  that  he 
did  not  provide  liberally  out  of  his  great 
wealth  for  his  mother!  This  annoyed 
Washington  exceedingly  and  was  the 
subject  of  several  exasperated  letters, 
couched  in  stately  terms,  beginning 
with  "Honour'd  Madam,"  and  closing 
with  "Your  affectionate  son,  George." 

In  one  of  them  he  gently  explained 
to  her  why  he  could  not  have  her  come 
to  live  at  Mount  Vernon,  where  she 
would  have  to  change  her  dress  often — 
which  she  hated — and  where  his  wife, 
Martha,  would  brook  no  domineering. 
133 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

The  dear  old  lady  could  never  quite  for 
give  her  son  George  for  refusing  to  al 
low  her  to  manage  his  whole  life  for 
him. 

Perhaps  the  adulation  Washington 
appreciated  most  was  that  of  Congress, 
which  had  been  harder  to  conquer  than 
the  British.  He  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  that  august  and  obdurate  body  at 
his  feet. 

But  the  end  was  not  yet.  Washing 
ton  had  to  go  to  Newburg.  The  Brit 
ish  were  still  in  New  York  and  his  dis 
contented  army  was  too  weak  to  drive 
them  out.  Peace  was  under  slow  and 
painful  negotiation  and  there  was  still 
no  assurance  that  the  articles  would  ever 
be  signed.  The  British  commissioners 
were  foolish  and  arrogant.  It  was  their 
nature.  The  king  was  almost  insane 
and  his  hatred  of  Americans  became 
monomania.  Dr.  Franklin  and  his  col 
leagues  in  Europe  had  to  exercise  cour- 
134 


"THE  BITTER  END" 

age,  patience,  and  strategy  similar  to 
those  practised  by  the  commander-in- 
chief  for  six  years  in  America.  It  took 
more  than  a  year  after  Yorktown  to 
conclude  the  peace.  During  this  time 
"the  temper  of  the  army"  was,  as  Wash 
ington  described  it,  "very  much  soured." 
They  lived  on  poor  fare  and  did  not  re 
ceive  their  pay,  even  in  depreciated  con 
tinental  money,  of  which  the  value  had 
fallen  so  low  as  to  originate  the  con 
temptuous  phrase,  "Not  worth  a  conti 
nental!"  They  were  finally  paid  out  of 
money  sent  from  France. 

Afterward,  realizing  how  much 
Washington  had  done  for  the  country 
and  how  weak  and  ineffectual  the  gov 
ernment  seemed  to  be,  the  representa 
tive  of  a  large  number  of  soldiers  and 
citizens  sent  him  a  letter  proposing  to 
make  him  dictator,  or  even  emperor, 
if  he  would  accept  the  honor.  The  re 
publican  experiment  had  not  yet  been 
135 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

tried  successfully  anywhere  and  people 
could  not  help  believing  that  any  other 
form  of  government  than  a  monarchy 
must  end  in  failure. 

Washington,  instead  of  feeling  flat 
tered,  wrote  an  indignant  reply,  in  part 
as  follows: 

'Tarn  much  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what 
part  of  my  conduct  could  have  given 
encouragement  to  an  address  which 
seems  to  me  big  with  the  greatest  mis 
chiefs  that  can  befall  my  country.  You 
could  not  have  found  a  person  to  whom 
your  schemes  are  more  disagreeable." 

At  last  the  tidings  of  the  signing  of 
the  treaty  came,  and  the  war  was  actu 
ally  at  an  end.  The  next  day,  April 
19,  1783,  was  the  eighth  anniversary  of 
the  first  battle  of  the  war.  A  solemn 
celebration  was  held,  at  which  a  short 
hymn,  entitled  "Independence,"  was 
sung,  of  which  this  was  the  ringing  re 
frain: 

136 


"THE  BITTER  END" 

"No  king  but  God! 
No  king  but  God!" 

Still  there  were  many  details  for  the 
commander-in-chief  to  arrange  before 
leaving  the  army,  to  live  quietly  at  home 
— a  boon  he  had  not  known  for  eight 
years.  During  all  that  time  of  peril 
and  privation  he  had  sighed  constantly 
for  Mount  Vernon,  wife  and  home, 
peace  and  happiness — to  him  an  earthly 
paradise. 

It  was  in  Fraunces'  tavern,  near 
Whitehall  Ferry,  New  York  City,  that 
General  Washington  took  final  leave  of 
his  companions  in  arms  and  partners  in 
distress.  Choking  with  emotion,  he 
could  not  speak  at  first.  Controlling 
his  voice  by  a  supreme  effort,  he  be 
gan: 

"With  a  heart  full  of  love  and  grati 
tude  I  take  my  leave  of  you,  most  de 
voutly  wishing  that  your  latter  days 
may  be  as  prosperous  and  happy  as 
137 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

your  former  ones  have  been  glorious  and 
honorable." 

Then  there  was  a  suffocating  pause 
before  he  could  go  on: 

"I  cannot  come  to  each  of  you  to  take 
my  leave,  but  shall  be  obliged  to  you  if 
each  will  come  and  take  me  by  the 
hand." 

His  adopted  son  describes  this  scene : 
"Knox,  who  stood  nearest  to  him, 
turned  and  grasped  his  hand,  and,  while 
the  tears  flowed  down  the  cheeks  of 
each,  the  commander-in-chief  kissed 
him.  This  he  did  to  each  of  his  officers 
while  tears  and  sobs  stifled  utterance." 

A  spectator  tells  of  his  departure 
from  Whitehall  slip : 

"There  he  got  into  a  barge.  As  he 
rode  away  he  stood  up  and  lifted  his 
hat.  All  of  us  uncovered  and  remained 
thus  till  he  passed  from  sight  to  be  seen 
no  more  by  many  of  those  who  gazed 
sadly  after  his  retreating  form." 
138 


"THE  BITTER  END" 

The  next  step  was  to  resign  his  com 
mission  before  Congress,  then  in  session 
at  Annapolis,  and  render  his  account  to 
the  government.  This  was  for  moneys 
advanced  by  him  in  those  immortal  eight 
years  to  facilitate  the  movements  of  the 
army,  over  and  above  the  expenses  he 
had  pledged  beforehand  in  that  "elo 
quent"  speech.  It  amounted  to  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars!  Great 
ness  is  not  to  be  measured  in  money 
terms.  Washington's  bill  seems  con 
temptibly  small  from  a  merely  financial 
point  of  view,  but  his  credits  in  the  reck 
oning  were  items  of  sublime  import  to 
American  patriotism.  He  gave  his 
own  services  to  his  country  also,  " with 
out  money  and  without  price." 

A  great  Englishman  afterward 
showed  the  striking  contrast  between 
George,  about-to-be  crowned  king  of 
England,  and  that  greater  George,  the 
uncrowned  emperor  in  America: 
139 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

"Which  was  the  most  splendid  spec 
tacle  ever  witnessed,  the  opening  feast 
of  Prince  George  in  London,  or  the 
resignation  of  Washington?  Which  is 
the  most  noble  character  for  after  ages 
to  admire — yon  fribble  dancing  in  laces 
and  spangles,  or  yonder  hero  who 
sheathes  his  sword  after  a  life  of  spot 
less  honor,  a  purity  unreproached,  a 
courage  indomitable,  and  a  consummate 
victory?" 

But  sweeter  than  all  this  and  far 
more  to  his  credit,  was  the  reply  of 
Congress  to  his  valedictory  address. 
It  was  a  noble  testimonial — all  that  the 
retiring  general  could  have  wished,  and 
was  delivered  by  a  former  bitter  enemy 
— one  of  the  Conway  cabal! 

As  for  the  General  who  had  been  so 
unjustly  attacked  while  he  needed  all 
this  appreciation — he  had  a  devoted, 
forgiving  heart,  and  "an  angel  might 
have  envied  his  feelings." 
140 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

It  was  a  happy  home-coming  for 
Washington,  that  Christmas  Eve  of 
1783.  It  was  his  first  chance  to  "sit 
down"  in  eight  long  years  of  hardship, 
exposure,  hatred,  and  calumny  "under 
his  own  vine  and  fig-tree."  He  had 
looked  forward  to  this  with  almost  hope 
less  longing  through  all  the  dark  hours 
of  the  Revolution. 

Jack's  children,  Washington  and 
Nelly  Custis,  were  small  enough  to  re 
mind  him  of  his  first  home-coming  as  a 
young  benedict,  twenty-four  years  be 
fore.  He  had  the  greatest  reason  to  be 
happy.  He  had  made  and  saved  his 
country,  and  forced  even  those  who  had 
hated  him  to  admit  it.  Although  Von 
Moltke,  himself  a  master,  has  called 
Washington  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
141 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

strategists,  it  was  not  by  his  battles  that 
he  won  the  Revolution.  It  was  by  what 
he  was  and  what  he  did  during  the  lin 
gering  intervals  while,  hampered  by 
mutiny,  tortured  by  calumny,  stabbed 
in  the  back  by  a  dozen  Brutuses,  he  kept 
on  planning,  working,  hoping,  praying. 
Thrice  armed  by  the  justice  of  his  quar 
rel,  he  went  on  "in  the  teeth  of  clench'd 
antagonisms  to  follow  out  the  noblest 
till  he  die."  He  was  ready  to  die  and 
expected  to,  but  he  won.  Relieved  now 
of  public  cares  and  responsibilities,  he 
was  once  more  a  private  citizen  in  his 
own  home.  This  alone  made  him  as 
happy  as  a  man  just  out  of  prison. 

As  an  illustrious  follower  of  the  plow, 
he  became  head  of  the  Order  of  the  Cin 
cinnati,  and  Mount  Vernon  became  a 
Mecca  for  the  world,  the  home  of  "the 
Cincinnatus  of  the  West." 

After  years  of  mismanagement,  his 
own  liberality,  and  the  natural  depre- 
142 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

elation  due  to  the  long  war,  his  for 
tune  was  shattered,  and  Washington 
found  his  estate  badly  in  debt.  Though 
he  died  the  second  richest  man  in  Amer 
ica,  he  was  not  rich  at  the  end  of  the 
Revolution.  But  he  addressed  himself 
to  retrieve  his  dissipated  wealth  with 
the  same  determination  that  had  set 
him  to  work  besieging  Boston  and  bom 
barding  Yorktown. 

Ordinary  problems  and  duties  were  a 
pleasure  to  him.  He  rode  a  round  of 
fifteen  miles  a  day  superintending  his 
Mount  Vernon  estate.  He  had  a  won 
derful  head  for  details,  whether  in  order 
ing  his  own  clothes  or  his  wife's,  or  a 
spinet  or  sugar  plums  for  the  children. 
He  wrote  long  letters  every  day  and 
copied  them  by  hand.  He  even  wrote 
formal  letters  for  his  wife,  who  was  not 
a  highly  educated  woman,  and  she 
copied  them  faithfully,  his  bad  spelling 
and  all! 

143 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

He  was  land  poor — owning  vast 
tracts  of  country  in  different  States, 
some  of  them  discovered  in  his  young 
surveying  years.  He  developed  these 
resources,  selling  thousands  of  acres 
here  and  there  to  pay  debts  on  the  home 
plantation.  So  carefully  did  he  look 
after  the  different  departments  of  work 
on  his  estates  that  it  was  said  the  brand 
of  George  Washington's  mill  on  a  flour 
barrel  was  recognized  even  in  England 
as  the  surest  mark  of  excellence. 

As  there  was  no  inn  nearer  than 
Alexandria,  the  Washingtons  had  to  en 
tertain  as  many  guests  as  an  ordinary 
country  hotel.  They  were  often  im 
posed  upon,  but  they  had  rather  suf 
fer  than  be  found  failing  in  hospitality. 
Representatives  of  foreign  potentates 
came  to  see  "the  Sage  of  Mount  Ver- 
non."  The  king  of  Spain,  anxious  to 
do  honor  to  Washington,  sent  him  a 
pair  of  donkeys  of  high  degree.  Of 
144 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

this  gift  the  "jack"  greatly  amused  the 
General.  He  referred  to  it  several  times 
in  his  correspondence — once  at  least  to 
Lafayette.  Why  should  His  Majesty 
consider  a  royal  jackass  an  appropriate 
present  to  send  him?  Was  there  any 
thing  invidious  in  this?  He  would 
like  to  name  the  solemn  little  beast  for 
the  giver,  if  he  dared.  He  called  the 
animal  "Royal  Gift." 

Yet  after  all  he  had  done  for  his 
country,  Washington  could  not  be 
spared.  The  States  still  had  rival 
rights  and  divided  interests.  They 
were  jealous  of  one  another.  He  wrote 
to  Madison  that  the  separate  States 
"were  thirteen  sovereignties  pulling 
against  each  other."  There  must  be 
some  bond  to  unite  all  in  common  inter 
est — to  make  them,  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
name,  United  States. 

After  four  years  of  private  life  and 
happiness,  Washington  was  elected 
145 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

president  of  a  convention  to  formulate 
a  constitution  to  be  adopted  by  all  the 
States.  He  was  loath  to  leave  home, 
but  where  his  country  called  he  always 
went.  It  was  a  long,  hard  task,  but  he 
did  his  work  well.  Washington's  word 
was  law  until  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  superseded  it. 

To  him  it  was  a  terrible  penalty  he 

paid — being  elected  first  President  of 

the  United  States!     The  election  was 

unanimous  and  he  had  to  accept.     He 

was  to  have  been  inaugurated  on  the 

4th  of  March,  1789,  but  Congress  was 

delayed  in  getting  together  to  complete 

his  formal  election,  so  he  could  not  be 

notified  legally  until  the  16th  of  April. 

Of  this  he  wrote  to  General  Knox: 

"The  delay  may  be  compared  to  a 

reprieve;  for  in  confidence  I  tell  you 

(in  the   world   it  would   obtain   little 

credit)  that  my  movements  to  the  chair 

of  government  will  be  accompanied  by 

146 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

feelings  not  unlike  those  of  a  culprit 
who  is  going  to  the  place  of  execu 
tion." 

His  mother,  in  her  eighty-second 
year,  was  known  to  be  dying  of  cancer. 
Her  son,  the  President-elect,  called  to 
say  good-by.  Both  knew  it  was  their 
last  meeting.  The  adopted  son,  Wash 
ington  Custis,  gives  this  rather  grandilo 
quent  description  of  the  final  leave- 
taking: 

"The  President  was  deeply  affected. 
His  head  rested  upon  the  shoulder  of 
his  parent,  whose  aged  arm  feebly  yet 
fondly  encircled  his  neck.  That  brow, 
on  which  fame  had  wreathed  the  purest 
laurel  virtue  ever  gave  to  created  man, 
relaxed  from  its  awful  bearing.  That 
look,  which  could  have  awed  a  Roman 
senate  in  its  Fabrician  day,  was  bent  in 
filial  tenderness  upon  the  time-worn 
features  of  the  aged  matron.  He 
wept." 

147 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington  made  this  sad  entry  in 
his  diary  for  the  16th  of  April,  1789: 

"About  ten  o'clock  I  bade  adieu  to 
Mount  Vernon,  to  private  life,  and  to 
domestic  felicity,  and  with  a  mind  op 
pressed  with  more  anxious  and  painful 
sensations  than  I  have  words  to  ex 
press,  set  out  for  New  York  with  the 
best  disposition  to  render  service  to  my 
country  in  obedience  to  its  call,  but  with 
less  hope  of  answering  its  expectations." 

The  first  President-elect's  way  to 
New  York  was  strewn  with  verses  and 
flowers,  and  allegoric  ceremonies  by 
beautiful  girls  in  white.  On  his  arrival 
in  New  York  he  was  greeted  with  an 
ovation.  His  inauguration  was  still 
delayed  to  determine  certain  formali 
ties — what  his  title  should  be,  and  so  on. 
A  number  of  authorities  thought  the 
President  should  be  referred  to  as 
"High  Mightiness,"  like  a  king's  "Maj 
esty."  But  better  sense  prevailed. 
148 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

Everything  about  the  republican  form 
of  government  was  new  and  strange. 

Washington  took  the  oath  of  office 
on  the  30th  of  April,  1789,  on  the  bal 
cony  of  Federal  Hall,  corner  of  Wall 
and  Nassau  streets.  Then  the  judge 
who  administered  the  oath  raised  his 
hand  and  announced  him  to  the  waiting 
crowd  in  the  street  below.  A  flag  was 
run  up  over  the  cupola  of  the  building, 
bells  were  rung,  cannon  boomed,  and 
the  people  shouted: 

"Long  live  George  Washington, 
President  of  the  United  States!" 

There  was  much  disagreement  as  to 
the  proper  forms  and  etiquet  for  the 
President  and  his  wife.  Many  thought 
royal  "drawing  rooms"  should  be  held. 
Others  went  to  the  opposite  extreme. 
There  were  many  then,  as  now,  who 
criticized  whatever  was  decided  upon. 
President  Washington  gained  the  repu 
tation  of  being  grave,  cold,  distant,  and 
149 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

formal.  Much  of  this  was  due  to  diffi 
dence,  and  more  to  bad  dentistry.  He 
suffered  constantly  with  toothache,  and 
sometimes  appeared  at  public  functions 
with  his  face  so  badly  swollen  that  one 
eye  was  closed.  After  he  had  his  teeth 
extracted  and  an  artificial  plate  made, 
it  fitted  him  so  badly  that  it  fell  down 
whenever  he  laughed.  This,  in  addition 
to  his  sufferings,  must  have  discouraged 
his  native  mirthfulness. 

The  President  formed  a  cabinet  of 
the  greatest  men  of  his  day.  Jefferson 
was  Secretary  of  State,  and  Hamilton, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  They  were 
men  of  opposite  temperaments,  and 
though  each  was  greatest  in  his  own 
line,  they  were  inordinately  jealous  of 
each  other,  and  kept  the  good  President 
in  hot  water  all  the  time. 

Then  President  Washington  was 
taken  with  a  desperate  illness — a  viru 
lent  attack  of  anthrax — and  had  to  sub- 
150 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

mit  to  a  critical  surgical  operation. 
His  life  was  despaired  of.  One  day  he 
asked  the  doctor  if  he  was  going  to  die. 
"Do  not  flatter  me  with  vain  hopes,"  he 
said  serenely,  "I  am  not  afraid  to  die. 
I  can  bear  the  worst."  The  physician 
expressed  only  a  hope  that  his  distin 
guished  patient  might  recover.  The 
President  replied  cheerfully:  "Whether 
to-night  or  twenty  years  hence,  makes 
no  difference.  I  know  I  am  in  the 
hands  of  a  good  Providence." 

While  his  condition  was  most  critical 
his  mother  died,  and  they  dared  not  tell 
him  till  he  was  safe  on  the  road  to  re 
covery. 

Washington's  life  had  always  been 
in  the  open,  and  he  found  the  confine 
ment  of  the  presidency  exceedingly  irk 
some  and  detrimental  to  his  health,  so 
he  spent  much  time  traveling  about  and 
visiting  the  States.  The  reverence  and 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  and  his 
151 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

diplomacy  and  popularity,  had  the  ef 
fect  of  uniting  the  different  States  as 
though  he  were  a  living  embodiment  of 
the  Constitution. 

The  national  capital  was  removed  to 
Philadelphia,  then  the  largest  city  in 
the  United  States,  and  nearer  the  cen 
ter  of  the  thirteen  States  than  was  New 
York.  There  were  two  opposing  in 
fluences  at  work — one  favoring  some 
sort  of  alliance  with  England,  and  the 
other  sympathizing  with  the  French, 
then  in  the  midst  of  their  hideous 
"Reign  of  Terror."  As  the  French 
had  aided  the  United  States  in  defeat 
ing  Great  Britain  and  securing  inde 
pendence,  many  believed  the  failure  of 
the  United  States  to  reciprocate  was 
ungrateful  if  not  treacherous.  "Neu 
trality  is  desertion,"  they  said.  But 
Washington  and  his  party  saw  that  the 
men  who  aided  America  were  being 
murdered  in  the  name  of  liberty  by  the 
152 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

terrible  mobs  of  the  French  Revolution. 

During  Washington's  second  term 
the  so-called  "Jay  Treaty"  was  made 
with  England.  Many  were  so  enraged 
that  John  Adams,  the  Vice-president, 
wrote : 

"Ten  thousand  people  in  the  streets 
of  Philadelphia,  day  after  day,  threat 
ened  to  drag  Washington  out  of  his 
house,  and  effect  a  revolution  in  the 
government,  or  compel  it  to  declare  in 
favor  of  the  French  Revolution  against 
England." 

Washington  was  not  to  be  intimi 
dated.  He  was  true  to  what  he  be 
lieved  to  be  right,  without  the  slightest 
wavering.  The  world  and  history  have 
long  since  agreed  that  the  first  Presi 
dent  was  right.  The  only  thing  that 
seemed  to  disturb  his  serenity  was  hav 
ing  his  orders  disobeyed  or  being  un 
justly  attacked  in  the  newspapers. 
When  accused  of  trying  to  make  him- 
153 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

self  king,  President  Washington  flew 
into  a  violent  rage  and  Jefferson  re 
ported  him  to  have  said  "that  he  had 
rather  be  in  his  grave  than  in  his  pres 
ent  situation;  that  he  had  rather  be  on 
his  farm  than  to  be  made  Emperor  of 
the  World;  that  he  could  see  in  this 
nothing  but  an  impudent  design  to  in 
sult  him." 

In  spite  of  his  calm  exterior,  Wash 
ington  was  nervous  and  sensitive  to 
criticism.  He  complained  once  that 
"every  act  of  my  administration  is  tor 
tured  in  such  exaggerated  and  indecent 
terms  as  could  scarcely  be  applied  to  a 
Nero,  a  notorious  defaulter,  or  even  a 
common  pickpocket !" 

So  he  was  glad  to  decide  that  two 
terms  were  enough  for  any  President, 
and  to  prepare  his  great  "Farewell 
Address  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States"  who  were  to  know  him  through 
all  time  as  the  Father  of  his  Country. 
154 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

Of  his  delivery  of  his  farewell  before 
both  Houses  of  Congress  a  spectator 
wrote : 

"Profound  silence  greeted  him  as  if 
the  great  assembly  desired  to  hear  him 
breathe.  Mr.  Adams  (now  President 
elect)  covered  his  face  with  both  hands. 
Every  now  and  then  there  was  a  sup 
pressed  sob. 

"I  cannot  describe  Washington's  ap 
pearance  as  I  felt  it — perfectly  com 
posed  and  self-possessed  till  the  close  of 
his  address.  Then  when  strong,  nerv 
ous  sobs  broke  loose,  when  tears  cov 
ered  the  faces,  then  the  great  man  was 
shaken.  I  never  took  my  eyes  from  his 
face.  Large  drops  came  from  his  eyes. 
He  looked  as  if  his  heart  was  with  them, 
and  would  be  to  the  end." 

There  was  a  multitude  who  could  not 

gain  admission  to  hear  the  address  but 

thronged  him  in  the  street — not  a  mob 

this  time!     This  is  described  by  an  eye- 

155 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

witness:  "The  crowd  followed  him  to 
his  door ;  there,  turning  round,  his  coun 
tenance  assumed  a  grave  and  almost 
melancholy  expression,  his  eyes  were 
bathed  in  tears,  his  emotions  were  too 
great  for  utterance,  and  only  by  his 
gestures  could  he  indicate  his  thanks 
and  convey  his  farewell  blessing." 

With  these  scenes  of  tenderness  in 
mind,  the  other  side  of  the  picture  may 
show  what  that  kind  old  man  had  to 
endure  from  a  no  less  source  than  his 
friend  Franklin's  grandson,  in  the 
Aurora  newspaper,  in  the  very  next 
issue : 

"If  there  ever  was  a  period  for  re 
joicing,  this  is  the  moment;  every  heart 
in  unison  with  the  freedom  and  happi 
ness  of  the  people  ought  to  beat  high 
with  exultation  that  the  name  of  Wash 
ington  from  this  day  ceases  to  give  a 
currency  to  political  iniquity,  and  to 
legalize  corruption. 

156 


LAUNCHING  HIS  OWN  SHIP 

"When  a  retrospect  is  taken  of 
Washington's  administration  for  eight 
years,  it  is  a  subject  of  the  greatest  as 
tonishment  that  a  single  individual 
should  have  cankered  the  principles  of 
republicanism  in  an  enlightened  people 
just  emerging  from  the  gulf  of  despot 
ism,  and  should  have  carried  his  designs 
against  the  public  liberty  so  far  as  to 
put  in  jeopardy  its  very  existence. 
Such,  however,  are  the  facts,  and  with 
these  staring  us  in  the  face,  this  day 
ought  to  be  a  JUBILEE  in  the  United 
States." 

And  there  were  thousands  who  read 
this  tirade  with  pleasure ! 


157 


"HOME  AGAIN,  HOME  AGAIN!" 

Although  Washington  returned  to 
private  life  and  was  relieved  of  the  cares 
of  state,  he  did  not  live  at  ease.  He 
worked  so  hard  overseeing  the  planta 
tion  and  kept  up  such  a  great  volume  of 
correspondence  that  General  Harry 
Lee  remarked  to  him: 

"We  are  amazed,  sir,  at  the  vast 
amount  of  work  you  get  through." 

Washington  replied,  "I  rise  at  four 
o'clock,  and  a  great  deal  of  my  work  is 
done  while  others  sleep." 

He  was  the  soul  of  hospitality  and  de 
lighted  in  surrounding  himself  with  gay 
young  people.  He  was  fond  of  danc 
ing,  often  indulging  in  every  set  during 
a  whole  evening.  Sometimes,  feeling 
that  the  others  were  overawed  by  his 
158 


"HOME  AGAIN  r 


presence,  he  would  forego  the  pleasure 
of  dancing  more  than  the  opening  min 
uet,  bow  formally  and  leave  the  room. 
Then  he  would  slip  behind  an  open  door 
and  watch  the  young  folks  through  the 
crack,  chuckling  to  himself  while  think 
ing  of  the  pleasure  he  was  sharing  all 
unknown  to  them. 

Nelly  Custis,  his  adopted  daughter, 
then  a  young  lady,  told  how  eagerly  he 
entered  into  her  pranks,  playing  prac 
tical  jokes  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
Sophomore.  One  of  the  last  events  in 
which  he  took  a  great  interest  was 
Nelly's  wedding  to  his  favorite  nephew, 
Lawrence  Lewis,  his  sister  Betty's 
son. 

He  enjoyed  facetious  stories.  On 
one  occasion  at  dinner,  Harry  Lee  made 
a  remark  which  set  Mrs.  Washington 
laughing  and  a  parrot  perched  by  her 
began  to  laugh  also. 

"Ah,  Lee,  you  are  a  funny  fellow!" 
159 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

exclaimed  the  master  of  Mount  Vernon. 
"See,  that  bird  is  laughing  at  you." 

Once  Washington  wrote  to  Tobias 
Lear,  his  secretary: 

"I  am  alone  at  present,  and  shall  be 
glad  to  see  you  this  evening.  Unless 
some  one  pops  in  unexpectedly,  Mrs. 
Washington  and  myself  will  do  what  I 
believe  has  not  been  done  within  the  last 
twenty  years  by  us — that  is,  to  sit  down 
to  dinner  by  ourselves. 

"Your  affectionate 

"G.  WASHINGTON." 

Jeremiah  Smith,  Chief  Justice  of 
New  Hampshire,  visited  the  Washing- 
tons  in  1797.  He  used  to  relate  with 
great  gusto  the  following  incident  con 
cerning  Judge  Marshall,  afterward 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States: 

"Judge  Marshall  and  Judge  Wash 
ington  [the  General's  nephew,  Bush- 
rod]  were  on  their  way  to  Mount  Ver- 
160 


'HOME  AGAIN!' 


non,  attended  by  a  servant  who  had  the 
charge  of  a  large  portmanteau  contain 
ing  their  clothes.  At  their  last  stop 
ping  place  there  happened  to  be  a 
Scotch  peddler,  with  a  pack  of  goods 
which  resembled  their  portmanteau. 
The  roads  were  very  dusty,  and  a  little 
before  reaching  the  General's,  they, 
thinking  it  hardly  respectful  to  present 
themselves  as  they  were,  stopped  in 
a  neighboring  wood  to  change  their 
clothes.  The  colored  man  got  down  the 
portmanteau,  and  just  as  they  had  pre 
pared  themselves  for  the  new  garments, 
out  flew  some  fancy  soap  and  other  arti 
cles  belonging  to  the  peddler,  whose 
goods  had  been  brought  on  instead  of 
their  own.  They  were  so  struck  by  the 
consternation  of  their  servant,  and  the 
ludicrousness  of  their  own  position, 
being  there  naked,  that  they  burst 
into  loud  and  repeated  shouts  of  laugh 
ter. 

161 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

"Washington,  who  happened  to  be 
out  upon  his  grounds  near  by,  heard  the 
noise,  and  came  to  see  what  might  be 
the  occasion  of  it,  when,  finding  his 
friends  in  that  strange  plight,  he  was  so 
overcome  with  laughter  that  he  actually 
rolled  upon  the  ground!" 

A  guest  named  Watson,  who  had 
business  at  Mount  Vernon,  was  urged 
to  stay  there  all  night.  Half  sick  with 
a  cold,  he  hesitated,  not  wishing  to  re 
main,  at  such  a  disadvantage,  under  the 
roof  of  one  so  highly  venerated.  After 
going  to  bed  he  was  astonished  to  see  a 
stately  figure  in  a  long  nightgown  ad 
vancing  slowly  toward  the  bed,  bringing 
him  a  bowl  of  herb  tea.  It  was  Wash 
ington  himself. 

The  General  often  wrote  letters  until 
dark,  answering  all  sorts  of  demands 
upon  his  time  and  courtesy — even  read 
ing  a  tedious  manuscript  to  please  a 
strange  young  lady  who  wished  to  know 
162 


'HOME  AGAIN!' 


what  he  thought  of  it.  As  a  "free 
horse"  he  was  ridden  almost  to  death. 

During  John  Adams's  presidency 
preparations  were  made  for  removing 
the  nation's  capital  farther  south,  and  a 
site  on  the  Potomac  was  selected.  At 
first  it  was  known  as  the  Federal  City. 
The  last  interest  which  occupied  the  at 
tention  of  Washington  was  the  building 
of  the  "President's  Palace,"  as  he  called 
the  Executive  Mansion.  General 
Washington  rode  over  from  Mount 
Vernon  almost  daily  to  superintend  the 
work,  as  if  he  were  an  architect's  fore 
man.  It  was  a  labor  of  love.  No 
bridegroom  could  have  been  more  inter 
ested  in  the  construction  of  his  future 
home  than  Washington  was  in  the  house 
designed  to  become  the  home  of  the  na 
tion. 

There  was  a  Scotchman,  Davie 
Burns,  living  in  a  cottage  between  the 
site  for  "the  palace"  and  the  Potomac, 
163 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

and  the  stone  for  the  building  had  to  be 
hauled  from  a  special  wharf  right  across 
Burns's  farm.  The  fact  was  that  these 
very  operations  on  land  formerly  owned 
by  him  made  his  remaining  estate  very 
valuable,  but  the  man,  ill-natured  and 
obstinate,  annoyed  the  workmen  and 
hindered  the  work. 

One  day  Washington  remonstrated 
with  Burns  for  this,  reminding  him  that 
the  Federal  City  and  the  President's 
Palace  were  making  him  a  rich  man, 
and  remarking  that,  but  for  the  selec 
tion  of  his  land  for  this  purpose,  he 
would  have  lived  out  his  days  there 
"nothing  but  a  poor  tobacco  planter." 

Davie's  Scotch  was  up  in  an  instant. 
"Aye,  mon,"  said  he  in  great  wrath, 
"and  what  you  have  been,  Meesther 
Washington,  if  you  hadn't  merried  the 
Weedow  Custis  with  all  her  niggers? 
You'd  be  nothing  but  a  land-surveyor 
to-day,  and  a  mighty  poor  one  at  that!" 
164 


'HOME  AGAIN!' 


In  1798,  the  last  full  year  of  Wash 
ington's  life,  trouble  seemed  to  be  brew 
ing  with  France  and  the  old  general 
and  ex-President  hastened  to  offer  him 
self  and  his  sword  once  more  to  the  serv 
ice  of  his  country,  saying  in  a  noble  note 
to  President  John  Adams:  "I  should 
not  intrench  myself  under  the  cover  of 
age." 

Fortunately,  because  of  the  wisdom 
he  had  shown  as  President,  when  peo 
ple  insulted  him  and  wanted  to  mob  him 
for  it,  these  military  services  were  not 
needed.  A  mishap  about  this  time 
proved  his  physical  fitness  for  such  a 
strenuous  task.  A  mettlesome  colt,  in 
sudden  fright,  jumped  sideways  and 
threw  him  to  the  ground.  The  onlook 
ers  feared,  from  the  violence  of  his  fall, 
that  the  old  General  was  badly  hurt  if 
not  killed  outright.  No,  indeed,  not 
he!  In  spite  of  his  great  size  and 
weight,  that  plucky  old  gentleman 
165 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

jumped  up  and  began  brushing  off  his 
clothes — only  expressing  his  deep  dis 
gust  that  he  had  allowed  such  a  trivial 
thing  to  upset  his  equilibrium. 

He  always  retained  his  passion  for 
horses.  Gilbert  Stuart,  who  painted  a 
number  of  portraits  of  Washington,  in 
cluding  that  by  which  he  is  recognized 
to-day,  used  to  say  that  the  only  way 
to  insure  an  animated  expression  on 
that  tired  old  face  was  to  talk  to  him 
about  horses.  Washington  had  led 
such  an  active,  outdoor  life  that  the  least 
restraint  was  irksome  to  him.  Of  his 
distaste  for  the  long  portrait  sittings 
then  required,  he  himself  humorously 
wrote : 

"At  first  I  was  as  restive  under  the 
operation  as  a  colt  is  of  the  saddle. 
The  next  time  I  submitted  very  reluct 
antly,  but  with  less  flouncing.  Now, 
no  dray-horse  moves  more  readily  to  his 
thill  than  I  do  to  the  painter's  chair!" 
166 


HOME  AGAIN!' 


Washington  was  especially  proud  of 
"dear  Brother  Jack's"  son  Bushrod, 
who  became  an  eminent  jurist,  and  of 
Betty's  son,  Lawrence  Lewis,  whose 
marriage  to  his  foster-daughter  took 
place  at  beautiful  Mount  Vernon  on  its 
owner's  last  birthday.  He  provided 
well  for  his  brother  Charles's  children. 
His  eldest  brother,  Samuel,  proved  a 
ne'er-do-well,  with  a  faculty  for  getting 
married  and  running  into  debt  to  satisfy 
five  wives  (whom  he  wedded  in  rapid 
succession),  in  addition  to  his  own  ex 
travagances.  He  took  advantage  of 
his  wealthier  brother's  tenderness  to 
ward  them  all,  and  got  loans  often  when 
it  was  "very  inconvenient"  for  "dear 
George"  to  accommodate  him.  At  last, 
when  he  was  imposed  upon  beyond  all 
forbearance,  George  wrote  to  Jack: 
"In  God's  name,  how  did  my  brother 
Samuel  get  himself  so  enormously  into 
debt?" 

167 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

After  the  brothers  were  dead  he  took 
kind  care  of  their  children,  "lending" 
them  large  amounts  of  money  and  giv 
ing  them,  sometimes  sternly,  sometimes 
tenderly,  the  fatherly  counsel  they 
sorely  needed.  Samuel's  son  Thornton 
followed  in  his  father's  footsteps  and 
received  indulgent  sums  from  "Uncle 
George,"  who  sent  two  more  of  Sam 
uel's  sons  to  college,  paying  five  thou 
sand  dollars — an  extravagant  amount 
for  that  day — for  their  education. 

And  Samuel's  daughter  Harriot! 
She  was  the  bane  of  her  good  uncle's 
existence,  with  her  careless,  slatternly 
ways.  He  had  her  live  at  Mount  Ver- 
non,  where  she  sometimes  waxed  affec 
tionate  in  wheedling  him  into  buying  a 
new  "pair  of  stays,  shoes,  gloves,  and  a 
hat." 

When  his  sister  Betty  appealed  for 
a  wedding  trousseau  for  this  exasperat 
ing  niece,  he  replied:  "She  has  no  dis- 
168 


"HOME  AGAIN!' 


position  to  be  careful  of  her  clothes,  for 
they  are  dabbed  about  in  every  hole  and 
corner,  and  her  best  things  always 
in  use."  Then  he  added,  with  a  shrug 
and  a  helpless  smile,  "She  costs  me 
enough!" 

In  his  will,  Washington  forgave  quite 
a  fortune  of  delinquencies  on  the  part 
of  relatives,  near  and  distant,  to  whom 
he  had  been  a  sort  of  Santa  Claus  all 
their  natural,  and  somewhat  unnatural, 
lives. 

On  the  12th  of  December,  1799,  he 
rode  the  rounds  of  his  estate,  paying  no 
heed  to  a  driving  storm  of  snow  and 
sleet.  Taking  cold,  he  was  bled  by  an 
overseer.  It  was  the  worst  thing  to 
have  done,  but  he  gave  the  order,  and 
the  man  obeyed  as  he  would  if  he  had 
been  butchering  a  steer.  Then  three 
doctors  came  and  bled  him  again.  One 
of  these  was  his  life-long  friend  Dr. 
Craik,  who  attended  him  when,  as  a  gen- 
169 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

eral's  aide,  with  a  high  fever,  he  broke 
from  the  hospital  tent  and  rode  like  the 
wind  into  battle  against  French  and 
Indians,  saving  his  men,  even  after 
Braddock  had  lost  the  day.  The  old 
general  was  not  nearly  so  ill  now  as  the 
young  colonel  was  then. 

Washington  had  had  so  many  narrow 
escapes  he  was  now  sure  he  was  "in  the 
hour  and  article  of  death."  In  his  old 
methodical  way,  he  made  all  the  final  ar 
rangements,  as  if  he  was  going  on  a 
long-planned  journey.  To  his  faithful 
secretary,  who  was  tenderly  caring  for 
his  needs,  he  said : 

"I  am  afraid  I  fatigue  you  too  much. 
— Well,  it  is  a  debt  we  must  pay  to  each 
other,  and  I  hope  when  you  want  aid  of 
this  kind  you  will  find  it." 

When  old  Dr.  Craik  called,  he  whis 
pered,  with  many  gasps:  "Doctor,  I 
die  hard — but  I  am  not — afraid  to  go. — 
I  believed — from  the — first  attack — 
170 


'HOME  AGAIN!" 


that  I  should — not  sur — vive  it, — my 
breath — cannot — last  long." 

Later  that  dear  "gentleman  of  the 
old  school"  wheezed  out  his  thanks  to 
the  three  physicians  who,  with  the  best 
intentions  in  the  world,  had  bled  him  to 
death,  begging  them: 

"Take  no  more  trouble  about  me. — 
Let  me  go  off  quietly —  I  cannot  last 
-long." 

Tobias  Lear,  the  old  secretary,  has  re 
corded  Washington's  last  words: 

"About  ten  o'clock  [December  14, 
1799]  he  made  several  attempts  to  speak 
to  me  before  he  could  effect  it ;  at  length 
he  said: 

"  'I  am  just  going.  Have  me  de 
cently  buried;  and  do  not  let  my  body 
be  put  into  the  vault  in  less  than  three 
days  after  I  am  dead.' 

"I  bowed  assent,  for  I  could  not 
speak.  He  then  looked  at  me  again 
and  said: 

171 


HEART  OF  WASHINGTON 

"  T)o  you  understand  me?' 
"I  replied  'yes.' 

" '  'Tis  wellf  said  he. 

.««••• 

"While  we  were  fixed  in  silent  grief, 
Mrs.  Washington  (who  was  sitting  at 
the  foot  of  the  bed)  asked  with  a  firm 
and  collected  voice,  'Is  he  gone?' 

"I  could  not  speak,  but  held  up  my 
hand  as  a  signal  that  he  was  no  more. 

" '  'Tis  well,'  said  she  in  the  same 
voice.  'All  is  now  over.  I  shall  soon 
follow  him.  I  have  no  more  trials  to 
pass  through.' " 


172 


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